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The National Archives Education Service

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The Education Service provides free online resources and taught sessions, supporting the National Curriculum for history from key stage 1 up to A-level. Visit our website to access the full range of our resources, from Domesday to Britain in the 1960s, and find out about more about our schools programme, including new professional development opportunities for teachers.

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The Education Service provides free online resources and taught sessions, supporting the National Curriculum for history from key stage 1 up to A-level. Visit our website to access the full range of our resources, from Domesday to Britain in the 1960s, and find out about more about our schools programme, including new professional development opportunities for teachers.
Belsen Concentration Camp 1945
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Belsen Concentration Camp 1945

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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.
Elizabethan Propaganda
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Elizabethan Propaganda

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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.
Wartime Propaganda
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Wartime Propaganda

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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
Great War soldier’s record
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Great War soldier’s record

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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’.
Rebecca Riots
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Rebecca Riots

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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
William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare

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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.
Murder at Kirk o'Field
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Murder at Kirk o'Field

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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.
World Cup 1966
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World Cup 1966

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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.
Places - Creative & Descriptive Writing - English Language GCSE
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Places - Creative & Descriptive Writing - English Language GCSE

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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.
Evacuation to Canada in WWII
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Evacuation to Canada in WWII

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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.
19th Century Mining Disaster
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19th Century Mining Disaster

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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.
Chertsey - Life in a Medieval Town
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Chertsey - Life in a Medieval Town

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This lesson provides pupils with a glimpse of a medieval village. Pupils can identify the major buildings and make inferences about medieval village life, with reference to a range of medieval maps.
The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement
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The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement

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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.
Ugandan Asians
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Ugandan Asians

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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 Road to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement
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The Road to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement

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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.
72 Hours to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement
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72 Hours to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement

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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.