Knowledge Organisers

At Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College all Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 pupils are provided with a booklet of Knowledge Organisers to support learning during the academic year (to use in lessons, for homework and revision).

We aim to support pupils and families when learning the important knowledge we teach for each subject. We also aim to support pupils and families when learning the important literacy and numeracy skills that transcend all subjects. We strive to improve reading skills, and the Knowledge Organisers include Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary lists. These are key terms that students are expected to use in their writing and speaking to be successful learners.

Knowledge Organisers are a useful tool to support with homework. We encourage pupils and families to use our Knowledge Organisers to support learning at home.

• Tier 2 vocabulary means formal words used across the curriculum
• Tier 3 means subject specific vocabulary.

Equipment

The Knowledge Organiser Booklet is part of our daily school equipment; it is essential all pupils look after these and bring them in each day as part of the equipment checklist. Copies can also be found on our website.

Should you misplace your booklets they can be reprinted and purchased from finance at a small charge. Pupils who are Pupil Premium can go to Achievement Hub to get a replacement.

Why we use Knowledge Organisers?

Each Knowledge Organiser includes the core knowledge and vocabulary for the units studied. Knowledge Organisers are created by our subject teachers for pupils to be as successful as they can be in their learning.

We should be regularly revising what we have learned previously as well as what we are currently studying. Regularly revisiting core knowledge and vocabulary means it will be easier to retrieve it in the future. The more we revisit knowledge the more likely it is to ‘stick’ and stay in our long-term memories, but for it to ‘stick’ knowledge must be revisited often.

We want pupils to feel as prepared as possible for assessments and exams. Each Knowledge Organiser is designed with our ‘waypoint’ and ‘end point’ assessments in mind and therefore useful when revising for important tests and assessments.

Each Knowledge Organiser will help pupils learn the core knowledge we assess and revisit each year. Our ‘end point’ assessments test longer term memory and require pupils to revise previous knowledge as well as the current topic studied.

How can we use Knowledge Organisers at home?

Knowledge Organisers can be used by pupils and by families at home; they help us to revisit and revise the essential information and vocabulary we are learning in lessons. Here’s a list of strategies:

• Reading – read through the Knowledge Organiser and teach it to a family member or friend.
• Glossaries- make a key words glossary and ask a family member or friend to test you on what the words mean and spell the words out.
• Quizzing – ask a family member or friend to use the Knowledge Organiser to quiz you on what you are learning currently. If they don’t know the content it is fine, you’re going to explain it and check it!
• Flashcards – making flashcards and asking someone else to test you on the knowledge is a really helpful way to find out what you do know, and you can go back over what you don’t know.
• Revision - It is essential we revisit our Knowledge Organisers to support revision for assessments.  Knowledge learned in Key Stage 3 lays the important foundations for building knowledge in Key Stages 4 and 5, and future success.