KS2 History – What Was It Like to Be a Child Evacuee? (Lesson 3)

This fully resourced lesson explores what life was like for children evacuated from British cities during World War II. Pupils use photographs, posters and personal accounts to develop empathy, inference and source evaluation skills, while gaining a deeper understanding of life on the Home Front.

What’s included:

Editable lesson PowerPoint introducing:

Why evacuation took place

Who was evacuated and where they were sent

Government efforts to persuade parents

Photograph analysis encouraging pupils to identify expressions, body language and emotions

Guided questioning to support inference and evidence-based thinking

Discussion on reliability of government propaganda and sources

Extract focus (Kitty Baxter) offering a personal perspective on evacuation experiences

Independent source task where pupils annotate and infer from a chosen source using structured prompts

Key learning:
Pupils explore the mixed emotions of evacuees, how host families treated them, and how government messaging shaped public perception. They reflect on bias, reliability and how different sources can offer contrasting viewpoints.