This lesson provides material for examining photographs as evidence. It can also be used as stimulus material for looking at the history of education and can also be useful for pupils to investigate the history of their own school.

A medieval revolution? The purpose of this document collection is to allow Key stage 5 students and their teachers to develop their own questions and lines of historical enquiry on Magna Carta and its legacy throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. The documents themselves are titled on the webpage so it is possible for teachers and pupils to detect different themes and concentrate on documents on similar topics if they wish. Some of the themes include: the relationship between the king and his barons; the relationship between Magna Carta, war and taxation; the intervention of the Pope; and the emergence of parliament as a fundamental part of political life.

How typical was Albert Edwin Rippington’s experience of war? ‘…if you ever meet a chap that says he wants to go back call him a liar’. These are words penned by Albert Edwin Rippington, an employee of the Audit Office for the Great Western Railway. Albert, along with many of his colleagues, had enlisted to fight in the First World War. He was wounded in action and wrote about his experiences from his hospital bed back in England. Albert was clearly deeply affected by his time in the trenches, but how typical was his experience? Exploring a range of letters written by soldiers who enlisted from the Great Western Railway to fight, students will investigate these men’s experiences of war; the conditions in the trenches and in reserve, and the impact that these experiences had on their morale and health of these men. Book From the Front now

Was appearance everything for a ruler in the 16th century? Henry VIII used symbols and images to display royal power. In this exciting session, pupils work with original documents from Henry’s reign to investigate how he was portrayed as a great monarch. This workshop supports schools focusing on a thematic study in British history (beyond 1066). Book Image of a King now

Did people take Magna Carta seriously? In 1225, Henry II proclaimed that the legal rights granted in his latest version of Magna Carta would be ‘held in our kingdom of England forever.’ Students work with a range of documents to consider the lasting impact of the Charter in medieval England. This workshop supports schools studying the development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509. Book Magna Carta now

This lesson could be used for History at key stage 3, within the development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509. The activities also support the key stage 3 literacy strategy for the development of writing. Students can attempt to locate the English words within the Latin original, and consider the development of the English language. The simplified transcript aims to add some clarity to the meaning of the document but does require some explanation or class discussion. Finally, the questions could also be used with key stage 2 pupils, fitting in with studies of Edward the Confessor as well as contributing to the key stage 2 numeracy strategy.

A lesson plan on Victorian homes. Pupils are gradually introduced to sources on Hackney, starting with a small map section, then photographic evidence, concluding with the census.

This lesson shows that attacks on civilians from the air began in the First World War and were quite serious. The focus of the tasks is on the drama and damage, the impact on civilians and British inability to deal with the raid.

This resource contains a hyperlinked list of National Archives current resources for Women’s histories on The National Archives website. It includes education resources, online exhibitions, research guides, blog posts and podcasts by staff and external writers and links to external websites. The intention for this resource is to make it easier for teachers to find resources for teaching a diverse curriculum. We are committed to further improving our resources and continuing to increase the women’s histories told through our education resources and collections. Women can be found throughout our collections, but their narratives are often harder to find. As this resource shows we are working to reclaim the voices of women and address these historical imbalances, to represent an inclusive history of everyone in the resources we now develop.

During her brief reign, Queen Anne received numerous petitions. A petition was a formal written request to the monarch by a person or group of people for a specific purpose. They included appeals from people against being sent to prison, or requests concerning religion, the sale of goods, pleas for jobs in the government or the Navy and so on. These requests therefore, can give insight as to how a monarch was expected to govern and carry out their role. Likewise, seals, used on most documents in the past to ‘close’ them and to prove that a document really was actually from the sender are useful sources for finding out about the monarchy. A Great Seal was particularly significant as it belonged to the monarch and was attached to all important documents which came from the crown. If a document had this seal, it had the monarch’s ‘seal of approval’ and reflected their commands. The seal used in this lesson is the Second Great Seal of Queen Anne and gives us clues about her image and how she wanted to be seen. Finally, some documents were decorated with images of the monarch to show that their contents relates to a particular ruler. This lesson contains an official treasury document which reveals an initial portrait of Queen Anne. Can you use the sources in this lesson to find out more about this Queen?

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.

The lesson plan and sources helps pupils to look at conflicting evidence and assessing their reliability and to develop an understanding of the various ways Hitler is portrayed.

The aim of this lesson is to get students to engage with original documents relating to prison hulks. Students will look at various records relating to the 15-year old James Butler and more generally in relation to the physical conditions on board. By interpreting these documents you can discover how criminal justice system actually worked in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They will also form an appreciation of the conditions on board prison hulks.

This lesson aims to give pupils the opportunity to use two historical sources to answer questions based on photographs of people of the 19th century.

A lesson to teach about the 1833 factory out where children can investigate how the far the act had solved the problems of child labour.

The purpose of this document collection is to allow students and teachers to develop their own questions and lines of historical enquiry on Attlee’s Britain, 1945-1951. The documents themselves are arranged according to theme, so that sources are grouped together rather than following a strict chronological order. Some of the themes include: the economy; rationing; housing, the welfare state, the National Health Service, and the nationalisation of coal, railways and electricity.

‘Armistice and Legacy’ is a graphic arts project illustrated by nine students who spent a week at The National Archives, illustrating their interpretations of First World War records and the research undertaken by The National Archives staff during the centenary of the war. The tales are told through the eyes of those who served in the war, showing the diverse experiences at the front and at home. The eBook can be used as a resource to learn about the experiences of war, or as an example of work your students could create inspired by historical documents.

The lesson considers how changing technology and warfare, showing how new inventions completely change the way war is waged.

This lesson can be used with key stage 3 pupils in year 9. It looks at the story of the Bussa rebellion on Barbados based on evidence relating to the reaction of the British authorities.

The purpose of this lesson is for pupils to look at some pages from the census and learn how much they can discover about people who lived in the past.