Why were so many lives lost in the disaster? Exploring information and testimony submitted to the British government inquiry into the sinking of Titanic, students investigate why so many passengers and crew lost their lives in the early hours of 15 April 1912. Through close analysis of these documents, students link causes, reaching a conclusion about which factors were most significant. This workshop supports schools studying challenges to Britain and the wider world, 1901 to the present day. Book The Sinking of the Titanic now

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 lesson can be used ofr KS1, KS2 and KS3. It looks at the story of the fire of London through evidence relating to some of the key characters - Thomas Farrinor and Charles II.

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.

The early 19th Century saw many advances in science and medicine, in a time where scientific and religious ideas often clashed over what was morally correct. These ideas are explored in nineteenth century literature such as the novel Frankenstein, but the stories in the real world were often as shocking and brutal as the Gothic fantasy. This lesson explores the business of the grave robber and how they furthered the study of medicine through a grey area of the law. This lesson can be used as part of several fields of study for GCSE, including: Crime and Punishment History of Medicine/Health and the People Social Reform of the early 1800s Historical Context of ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley. The confessions of Bishop and May describe their daily lives in great detail. The full confessions are twelve pages long each, and so have been presented as extracts to provide the most relevant sections describing one particular case. The initial task can be completed as group work, in carousel, or individually as its own lesson before moving on to the rest of the sources. Care should be taken in providing the source describing the murder to students. The final source shows the on going effects of the Act over twenty-five years later, asking students to consider these sources in the context of a larger narrative.

‘Why are historians still arguing about the First World War?’ Using original letters, reports, photographs and maps, students follow an enquiry led approach via six modules of 1-3 lessons each. Working with these sources your students will be able to put the evidence to the test and bust a series of common myths about this conflict, including were the soldiers ‘lions led by donkeys’ or did ’women spent the war nursing and knitting’. This scheme of work is designed as an an ‘off the peg’ resource for students learning about the First World War at Key Stage 3-4.

A lesson plan and resources for children to learn about the life and work of Florence Nightingale.

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.

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.

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.

This lesson and its sources can be used to look at how evidence over time can change leading to new conclusions. The lesson focuses on the sinking of the Indefatigable was one of heroic loss and then it became clear it was a mistake.

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.

Victorians were worried about the rising crime rate: offences went up from about 5,000 per year in 1800 to about 20,000 per year in 1840. They were firm believers in punishment for criminals but faced a problem: what should the punishment be? There were prisons, but they were mostly small, old and badly-run. Common punishments included transportation – sending the offender to America, Australia or Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) – or execution: hundreds of offences carried the death penalty. By the 1830s people were having doubts about both these punishments. The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built and old ones extended. The Victorians also had clear ideas about what these prisons should be like. They should be unpleasant places, to deter people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners had to be made to face up to their own faults, by keeping them in silence and making them do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.

This lesson and sources focus on the experiences of immigration of West Indian people to the UK between 1948-1970 including the Windrush.

This lesson can be used as a starting point for investigating the new Poor Law in more depth and discussing attitudes to the poor in 19th century Britain.

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

The lesson supports the new GCSE courses for Key stage 4 and the National Curriculum at Key stage 3, the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745. This is the first online lesson we have created on Oliver Cromwell using the National Archives State Papers as evidence for a historical enquiry. The State Papers offer a wonderful glimpse into the world of the Protectorate when England was a republic. For example one source reveals the impact of puritan beliefs on the celebration of Christmas. According to a report by Sir Henry Mildmay on 15th December 1650, to Parliament: “Council have received informations that there was very wilful and strict observation of the day commonly called Christmas Day, throughout the cities of London and Westminster, by a general keeping of shops shut up; and that there were contemptuous speeches used by some in favour thereof” Other sources in the lesson cover the nature of martial law, Cromwell’s treatment of royalist supporters, his foreign policy and its effects at home, and the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. There is also material relating to Charles II’s court in exile, where according to a letter in January 1657, “the news from England is of plots and treasons, year of gunpowder treasons, that would have sent the Protector to heaven in a fiery chariot”

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