2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Tees Valley Museums have worked with Spark Tees Valley, local school children and teachers to produce a half term of planning for teachers. With videos using children from local schools, and additional cartoons to inspire and introduce a series of topics teachers can either dip into these videos or use them to inform a whole half term of planning. Whether you’re learning about the industrial revolution, the Victorians, or finding out about significant events or people this resource can bring the topic to life in the classroom. There is an additional class challenge where children can consolidate their learning and understanding of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

Free downloadable teacher resource for using the topic of toys to help KS1 children think about sustainability. “I love this! what a brilliant way to link sustainability and history”. Head of Humanities Want to help your students to think about environmental sustainability in a positive way? Why not use a toys loans box or toys you have in school? Increasingly young children are aware of both the climate crisis and the ecological crisis that we are facing. We can’t pretend these aren’t happening, so how can we introduce ideas around more sustainable approaches to living in a positive way for Key Stage 1 children? This new resource offers ways to thread thinking about a sustainable world naturally into a history topic on toys. It provides: • A clear intent • Key texts • 5 activity ideas, including knowledge and progression and vocabulary for each • Ideas for demonstrating impact

This free toolkit gives you all you need for pupils to make their own Museum of Kindness - a Relationships and Health Education activity that can support any writing requirements. The toolkit works best online and is available free at: https://teesvalleymuseums.org/diy-museumofkindness/ . If you would like to use our Museum of Kindness logo in your school you can download it here. The Museum of Kindness toolkit can be used with any year group. Whether pupils are reflecting on their own kind deeds or reading about the kindness of others, making a Museum of Kindness brings pupils together to share positive stories. The idea is simple – pupils draw or write their moment of kindness to make their Museum. Make it as a physical display or on your website and share it with families. The films provided here are targeted at different age groups. There are two galleries of other students’ work to act as an inspiration. Then choose between the other three films that help your students think about what kindness is. There is a transcript of the KS 2 and 3 gallery on our Tees Valley Museums website, as some of the work was quite lengthy. Go to the free toolkit on our Tees Valley Museums website to download all the materials including top tips for writing museum labels for each Key Stage.