News

# Schools service scoops heritage award for The National Archives

Educators at The National Archives have won a prestigious prize for their
history workshops.

Published 18 September 2025

The team, all trained teachers, won The Sandford Award for Heritage Learning
2025. They bring alive history using maps, drawings, wills, censuses,
illustrations and other records from around 26 million documents held at The
National Archives in Kew.

Sessions based on the National Curriculum and history exam specifications allow
primary, secondary school, GCSE and A-level students to see and handle original
documents from the past.

> We’re thrilled to have our education and informal learning programmes recognised
> in this way. The Sandford Award is a prestigious accreditation and reflects the
> high standard of our education provision at The National Archives.

Rachel Hillman, Deputy Head of Education and Outreach at The National Archives

An assessor for the Heritage Education Trust, which awards the prize, said: “The
two most important resources of the education service are firstly the
astonishing range of authentic records available and secondly, the highly
skilled educators who help pupils interpret them at the appropriate level.”

The assessor observed a primary school class of 30 pupils, including some with
ADHD and SEN, taking part in a Great Fire of London: Examine the Evidence
session. Students used a survey map of Pudding Lane in 1665 to help them work
out the wind direction and took part in a human chain with a fire bucket to
appreciate how difficult it would have been to try to put out the fire.

Year 10 pupils from a secondary school were observed in a Medicine and the
Western Front workshop, in which they analysed authentic medical documents
relating to soldiers’ battle injuries in the First World War.

The assessor noted “Using actual letters and documents written in the past,
pupils are helped by the educators to feel connected with the person who wrote
it, an emotive experience which leads them to more research and understanding.

Schools can book workshops online through our [education
webpages](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/) or by emailing
[educationbookings@nationalarchives.gov.uk](mailto:educationbookings@nationalarchives.gov.uk).

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