This lesson features family history documents from the Victorian period. Children can learn how sources can be used to find out things about the past.

This lesson and pictures focus on what the British found when they entered Belsen concentration camp.This study of Belsen reveals how British soldiers were aghast at what they found when they liberated the camps.

A lesson plan with various suggestions for KS2 or KS3 pupils to learn about the Spanish Armada. Some of the suggestions in this lesson lend themselves to cross curricular links.

This lesson is intended for use either as part of a study of the use of propaganda over time, or within the context of work on Elizabethan England and the Spanish Armada.

This resource provides a propaganda leaflet that is intended to be used as either part of a study of government propaganda over time or as part of a study of the British Empire. It may also be used as an English resource useful in the study of non-fiction texts that are designed to persuade

This lesson focuses on a Scottish First World War soldier, Donald Campbell. The main task requires pupils decide what constitutes a ‘good soldier’ and whether Donald Campbell was a ‘good soldier’.

This lesson can be used with key stage 3 pupils. It considers the story of the Rebecca riots through evidence relating to the nature of the movement, the experience of some of those involved and the reaction of the authorities. hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg

This lesson provides pupils with evidence about Shakespeare that differs from the traditional 'greatest playwright of all time' material that many will be used to. Pupils studying life in Tudor times both from a History and English perspective can learn about Shakespeare as a person rather than a world famous writer.

A lesson based on the World Cup 1966, which may be of particular interest to some students. The lesson refers to the South American protesters who claimed that England, also the hosts, had rigged the whole tournament, with the help of West Germany.

This lesson involves the pupils in detective work, using three crucial sources about the murder of Lord Darnley the husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Pupils can study individual sources and report back to the whole class to answer the mystery.

This lesson asks pupils to develop their understanding of evacuation. Through primary source analysis it examines the fate of evacuees sent to Canada. Pupils investigate the organisation and bureaucracy behind evacuation, before looking at details of individual evacuees.

This lesson is designed to learn about what happened at the Trimdon Grange Mining Disaster. The lesson has an inquiry led approach to consider the possible causes of deaths in Victorian Britain.

This collection of photographs from The National Archives’ image library has been collated to provide a resource for English Language GCSE. The images can be used for descriptive or narrative creative writing prompts, allowing students to consider a variety of historical scenes as inspiration for their writing. Whilst the resources have been designed with the English Language GCSE in mind, they can be used for other age groups to develop imagination when considering character and description. Each image has been provided with its original document reference and description to offer some context to the image if desired, such as time period and location. However, the descriptions are deliberately brief and there are no correct answers required in creative writing. The photographs are presented as prompts only and students are not required to write creatively about actual historical places, figures or events.

This resource takes a twin track approach to the subject matter. Track 1: The significance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998 The Agreement was clearly an event of huge historical significance. However, it can sometimes be difficult to articulate why this was the case. This collection of documents aims to help students to meet this challenge. In the first instance, they are presented with two documents in which prominent political figures clearly think the Agreement was significant and successful. They are then asked to examine six more documents which all illuminate some aspect of the attempts to implement the Agreement and make it work. In the process the documents also provide evidence of the difficulties faced and the determination of the participants to overcome these difficulties. Track 2: How historians use sources This resource is NOT an examination practice paper. It is designed to take one step back from the exam question-based approach and to explore how historians think about documents and make use of them. The aim is that by understanding this set of fundamentals, students will be better equipped for the inevitably more limited approaches which examination conditions place on them. In this instance, students are introduced to the concept of a line of argument. This is a challenging idea, and it is difficult to master. With this in mind, we have provided some examples of lines of argument relating to the key issue of the significance of the Agreement for relations between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland. The five possible lines of argument are: The Agreement ended all of the tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland. The Agreement failed to ease tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland. Some groups actively opposed the Agreement even after it was signed. All sides gave up on the Agreement after it was signed. Despite the problems, all sides worked hard to make the Agreement work and this helped to ease tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland. In each source we ask students to consider which argument the document could be used to support. For each document, there are additional questions to aid students in their analysis. Students should complete the table before discussing which of the lines of argument are supported by the sources. It is possible that several are supported so they will then need to make a judgement about which has the most evidence and is the most convincing. Once students have decided on a line of argument, they should develop an extended paragraph in response to the question “What was the significance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement?” Their answer should explain why they have chosen the line of argument and what evidence from the sources supports it. Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.

On 4 August 1972, General Idi Amin, leader of Uganda declared his intension to expel all Asian passport holders from Uganda. This was regardless of whether they were British nationals. He argued that since they had all been British subjects at some point, he was right to include even those who had taken out Ugandan citizenship. What was the impact of this decision on the lives of Ugandan Asians? What did it mean to become stateless? What was Amin’s motivation for this policy? How did the British Government respond to his actions? What was the reaction of the British public? British Ugandan Asians at 50 logo Use this lesson to find original documents and video testimonies which explore the expulsion of Ugandan Asians and their experience as refugees in Britain. This lesson has been developed with the support of the British Ugandan Asians at 50, a programme of the India Overseas Trust. We are grateful for their generosity in supplying the video testimonies included in this lesson.

The six documents selected within this package reveal the difficulties of making peace at two selected snapshots of time in the peace process in Northern Ireland: June 1996 and June 1997, as well as how and when progress was made at these points. Although this is ‘packaged’ as a single lesson, it is likely to take at least two lesson periods of learning time to complete if all students use all the sources. Alternatively the sources could be shared within small groups with each student working on a single source and feeding back. Students are encouraged to analyse each document, looking for: any evidence that the talks are going well or that progress is being made; any evidence that there are still challenges or barriers to peace; and the reasons why making peace was difficult Learning objectives By the end of the session, students will: know two of the key moments on the road towards the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement; understand why it was so difficult to make peace; and be able to use contemporary documents to deepen their understanding of the peace process. Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.

The two documents selected within this package (one from the National Archives of Ireland and one from the National Archives in Kew) reveal the doubts about whether a peace agreement for Northern Ireland could be reached just days before it was finally signed by all parties. The documents also cover all the twists and turns of the final 72 hours of negotiation. It is expected that students will already have completed ‘The Road to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement’ lesson pack, although this is not essential. This lesson provides a contrast to that lesson: whereas the previous lesson focussed more on the barriers to peace, this centres more on how agreement was reached. In the main activity, students are encouraged to analyse extracts from a long document, a report on the final 72 hours written by John Holmes, Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to Tony Blair. In a similar process to lessons 1- 2, they need to look for: any evidence that the talks are going well or that an agreement is close any evidence that there are still challenges or that agreement seems far away key turning points / actions of individuals that make breakthrough possible They will chart the progress of the negotiations by plotting the 20 points on a graph to represent them in a visual form (teachers may wish to remove extracts in order to cut down the number students need to examine). Learning objectives By the end of the session, students will: know what barriers still stood in the way of an agreement, 7–10 April 1998 understand how the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement was finally achieved be able to use contemporary documents to deepen your understanding Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.

The resource takes a twin-track approach. Track 1: The significance of the Downing Street Declaration The six documents raise awareness and understanding of key events, developments and processes which contributed in some way to the Downing Street Declaration and the wider peace process. The main question is : What was the significance of the Downing Street Declaration? In one sense the answer to this is simple: the Declaration, as Source 6 clearly states, was designed to offer the Republican movement in Northern Ireland a pathway towards an end to violent action. Of course, the process of reaching a point where the Declaration could be made was far from simple. There were many contributory factors: individuals, groups, movements; developments in Ireland and the USA. These documents provide an insight into the workings and impact of just a few of these factors. Track 2: How historians use sources Making effective use of sources is not some mechanical process or skill which is separate from knowledge and context. It is a craft which experts take many years to develop and constantly look to improve on. The examination paper for this part of the CCEA GCSE History course places great stock on asking students to assess how the sources they are given would be useful and/or reliable in the context of particular questions. This resource is NOT an examination practice paper. It is designed to take one step back from the exam question-based approach and to explore how historians think about documents and make use of them. The aim is that by understanding this set of fundamentals, students will be better equipped for the inevitably more limited approaches which examination conditions place on them. Students are introduced to the two tracks in Slides 1-10 and then they can look at the documents. Students should look at each document and complete the table, so that they are recording: Reasons why the Downing Street Declaration came about, why key groups or individuals were involved, why and progress was difficult; Impact of particular events, actions, individuals; Changes taking place at the time; How the process worked which eventually led to the Downing Street Declaration came – meetings, discussions, documents; and Attitudes of the various groups and individuals involved. For each document, there are additional questions to aid students in their analysis. Students should complete the table before discussing what they consider to be the significance of the Downing Street Declaration. Once students have decided on a line of argument, they should develop an extended paragraph in response to the question “What was the significance of the Downing Street Declaration?” Their answer should explain why they have come to their conclusion what evidence from the sources supports their assessment. Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.

Historians substantiate their interpretations of the past by supporting their claims with evidence from primary sources. This is why two of the key assessment objectives at A Level are: Understanding and evaluating historical interpretations. Using and assessing a range of historical sources Part 1: What role did the key figures in the peace process play? Is it possible to argue that there was one key figure or group? This task provides A Level students with a collection of sources which will allow them to evaluate the role of key players and perhaps reach a judgement on how the work of these key players came together. Study each interpretation and summarise the key points made by the historian. What do they argue is the most important factor, individual or group? How did this contribute to the peace process and Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement? What challenges and obstacles had to be overcome? What evidence is given to support this interpretation? Does the historian’s biographical information help to explain their interpretation? From your own knowledge how convincing do you find this interpretation? What further evidence would you want to find in the documents to make the interpretation convincing? If you were to provide a one-word summary of this individual’s contribution, which of these would you choose, or can you think of a better word? Obstructive / Unhelpful / Marginal / Constructive / Helpful / Pragmatic / Visionary / Essential Part 2: Testing the views against the documents This resource is NOT an exam practice paper. It is designed to explore how historians think about documents and make use of them. Students are introduced to the concept of a line of argument and to testing this against evidence from a range of documents. This will enable them to respond more effectively to the source and interpretation papers in their examinations. All of the documents come from either: The National Archives of the United Kingdom The National Archives of Ireland The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland For each document a number of discussion questions are posed which are designed to engage students in focused reading of the text. Students are then asked to consider whether the document could be used as evidence to support a particular view. Carefully study the pack of 10 documents about the peace process. Decide whether each document could be used as evidence to support Views 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. Remember that documents may support more than one view Decide whether they constitute strong, convincing evidence or whether more evidence is required to substantiate the interpretation and support the historian’s line of argument. Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.

This lesson consists of a large amount of background information on the treaties and the League. The lesson helps to explain why the Second World War broke out when and how it did.