Back to school: discover our learning resources and taught sessions

Tuesday 20 September 2022

Our award-winning education service provides invaluable support for teachers and students with a full range of learning resources and taught sessions covering the span of British history from the medieval period to present day. We also provide a dedicated learning programme for students with Specialist Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Our approach to education is rooted in a belief that history should be an active investigation of the past. Our highly skilled team specialises in teaching using original sources, drawn from our unique and extensive collection of public records.

Booking now open for our taught sessions

Our popular taught sessions, covering a huge range of topics and available online and at our site in Kew, are now available to book for the spring term.

Our free interactive online sessions, broadcast live to your classroom, include:

We’re also planning some special online study days next year, including our popular Tudor A-Level day featuring a live Q&A with historian Tracy Borman. Follow our education social media channels to find out when these are announced.

If you’re looking for an educational day out for your class, you can now book our in-person taught sessions, delivered in our inspiring learning spaces at our site in Kew, west London. These regular hands-on workshops give students a unique opportunity to investigate the past using original documents. These include some of the most impressive treasures from our collection, such as a handwritten letter by Elizabeth I and the American Declaration of Independence, as well as more unusual ‘documents’ that include a 19th century mummified rat.

We have some special in-person sessions coming up in early 2023, including KS3 workshops to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (25 and 26 January), and a Hidden Love workshop for KS4 and 5, exploring LGBTQ+ lives in the 1920s and 30s for LGBTQ+ History Month (7 and 9 February).

Discover our online resources

If you’re looking for help with preparing lessons on particular historical topics and a visit to our building is out of the question, our free online resources could be just what you’re looking for.

We’ve recently added some exciting new resources to our already extensive collection, including new lessons on Irish Partition, Hong Kong and the Opium Wars and six lessons on 18th and 19th political and social reform, from Thomas Paine to Peterloo. A new film and accompanying education resource marking 75 years since the partition of British India will help KS3 students understand this important event.

We have also launched a series of video guides (Spotlight On…), featuring specialist presenters introducing one of our collections and highlighting documents connected to the history curriculum for Key Stage 3/4/5. Topics so far include Domesday Book, the State Papers of Henry VIII, Suffragettes and Luddites, along with two themed collections of Home Front documents introduced by historian Juliet Gardiner.

Explore our education website to discover the vast range of resources that we provide for teachers and students.