What's included in the History of Railways History Stem Sentences resource and why is it useful?

UKS2 The History of Railways History Stem Sentences is a set of sentence stems that give children a clear starting point for discussion and written answers about the topic. The content includes 24 stem sentences across 6 pages, covering the earliest trains and how they worked, George Stephenson and the ‘Rocket’, how the railways grew in the 19th century, the impact of the railways on the economy and people’s lives, the first underground trains and the railway network today.

Each stem gives children the first part of a sentence, so they can focus on the history rather than how to begin. Children practise using topic vocabulary, explaining causes and consequences, and giving reasons with "because". This builds the oracy and extended writing skills they need to show what they know.

Engineers and Inventions

Stems about early trains, George Stephenson and the ‘Rocket’, such as "George Stephenson was significant because he..."

Impact and Change

Stems that help children weigh up how the growing railways changed Britain, such as "One negative consequence of the growing railways was..."

Railways Today and in the Future

Stems that link the history of the railways to modern trains, such as "A possible future development in modern rail technology could be..."

How do our history stem sentences work?

Our stem sentences sit alongside our history scheme. Display a stem on the board or print the pages for tables, and children finish the sentence aloud or in writing. You can also use them:

• as a lesson starter to recap learning from the previous lesson
• with talk partners, who finish a stem together and then share their answer
• as a writing frame for extended answers in books
• on a working wall, so children can refer back to them across the topic
• at the end of the unit, to see what children can explain on their own

Stretch confident learners by asking them to add a second reason or a piece of evidence. Support others by modelling a complete sentence first.

Teach the full unit with our six History of Railways lessons.

Supporting Children with EAL and SEND

Stem sentences reduce the language load of a task, so every child can take part in the discussion. Read stems aloud together, point to the photo on each strip and give a word bank of key vocabulary from the topic. Children can answer with a single word or a drawing before building to a full sentence.