Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

A student in our workshop

A student in our workshop

We offer a dedicated learning programme for students with SEND:

  • Interactive workshops (onsite, at your school and online)
  • Free of charge to UK schools
  • Tailored to the needs of your students
  • Suitable for all ages (KS1 – post-16)
  • Suitable for students following an informal, semi-formal or formal curriculum
  • Delivered by a SEND specialist
  • Personalised booking service
  • Dedicated onsite minibus parking
  • New dedicated lunch spaces/breakout spaces
  • Site fully accessible

Choose from three workshops that can be delivered at The National Archives, at your school or online via Zoom. There are also online teaching resources available for you to use in your classroom.

All workshops are offered on dates and times to suit you and the facilitator.

In-person workshops delivered at The National Archives or at your school

4099 is my name

Use sensory props and signed call and response to discover the story of William Towers, sent to prison in Victorian London at the age of 12.

Find out more

In-person workshops delivered at The National Archives, at your school or online via Zoom/Teams

Henry’s royal rules

A student in a Prisoner 4099 workshop

A student in a Prisoner 4099 workshop

Explore a day in the life of Henry VIII using sensory props, dance and signed call and response songs. What rules did the king have to follow?

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Travel smart through time

Use sensory props and signed call and response songs to explore different types of transport through the ages. How do we travel smart and safely?

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Classroom resources

A day at the seaside

Experience all the fun of a day at the beach in Victorian times with our interactive classroom resources. Explore the seaside with sounds, signed videos and lots of ideas for sensory activities.

Find out more

Tactile 3D printer models

Do you have access to a 3D printer? If so, you can download these STL files for free and print them!

The National Archives and All Able Ltd have embarked on a pilot project to create tactile alternatives for a selection of our records. The National Archives wants everyone to be able to engage with our records and the history they represent. This project has been focussed on creating tactile alternatives to support wider SEND engagement. Teachers might also want to use tactile document models like these in a variety of learning situations.

These models were developed by George Rhodes for our Sensing the Archives workshop, aimed at blind and visually impaired students. You can learn more about the workshop and how these models were used in this blog post.

Find the 3D printer models here

A student exploring a tactile version of a Tudor illustration with their hands.

A student explores a tactile version of a document at The National Archives.

Getting to The Archives

Orientation materials

Our visual journey, ‘Come and have a look inside’, will help your students prepare for a visit here.

You can also download our vocabulary list: you can use this in lessons to further prepare your students for words they will hear during their time on site.

For further details or to arrange a booking, call us on 020 3908 9162 or email us: educationbookings@nationalarchives.gov.uk