Everday life at Baldock County School, 1944

Regular Sessions for Key Stage 3

Study Sessions
Students work in groups and critically evaluate artefacts, documents, photographs, film and oral history on specific themes. Master copies of study session worksheets will be sent to you after booking.

The following topics are available:

• Britain and the Great War
• Trench Warfare
• Women in the First World War
• The Home Front 1914–1918
• The Home Front 1939–1945
• Nazi Germany 1933–1939
• Together – the contribution made by African, Asian, and Caribbean men and women in the Second World War

 
Dates Regular sessions, see table for dates
Times 10.30am and 2.00pm
Session length 1 hour 30 minutes
Suitability Year 9, KS3 option. Background knowledge helpful.
Party Size Maximum 32

Take a Closer Look – Trench Warfare
This handling session using First World War artefacts encourages students to discuss and draw conclusions about conditions in the trenches and the impact of war on the individual.

Dates Regular sessions, see table for dates
Times 10.30am and 2.00pm
Session length 45–60 minutes
Suitability Year 9, KS3 option
Party Size Maximum 30

Special Sessions KS3

Together in Black History Month
This session looks at the often-neglected contribution made by African, Asian and Caribbean men and women in the Second World War. In groups, students evaluate documents, photographs, film and oral history.

Dates 13–17 October
Times 10.30am and 1.30pm
Session length 1 hour 30 minutes
Suitability Year 9, KS3 option
Party Size Maximum 32

Rethinking Disability: Conflict and Disability Sessions

Disability Rights
Disability Rights is a free, thought-provoking one-day workshop. It includes a visit to the Houses of Parliament and a morning of active discussion and investigation at Imperial War Museum London.

The morning session at the Museum focuses on human rights, the power of protest and anti-discriminatory legislation using disabled people’s rights as a case study. Students become Disability Discrimination Act ‘Inspectors’ and assess the public spaces of the Museum for accessibility. To encourage active participation, students draw up wish lists of changes they could make to their own school to make it more accessible. Students will also discover how one of the first pieces of disability legislation emerged from the labour shortages of the Second World War and the large numbers of veterans returning from the war with impairments.

In the afternoon students visit Parliament. At Parliament they will have an opportunity to learn more about how laws are made. Their MP will be invited to meet the group and receive the wish lists the students have drawn up during the morning session as well as answer questions. This will be followed by a tour through the Palace of Westminster.

Dates 30 January, 6 February, 20 March
Where Imperial War Museum London
Times 10.30am – noon (lunch break noon – 12.30pm)
Where Houses of Parliament Education Unit
Times 1.15 pm – 3.45pm
Suitability Year 9, KS3 option

QCA Units: Citizenship, with links to the following units:
Unit 3: Human rights
Unit 4: Britain – a diverse society?
Unit 4: How and why are laws made? (KS4)
Unit 6: Government, elections and voting for?
Unit 9: Consumer rights and responsibilities (KS4)
Unit 10: Rights and responsibilities in the world of work (KS4)

Party Size Maximum 20

Necessity Breeds Invention
This session tells the story of the Guinea Pig Club, a unique organisation set up by RAF airmen severely burnt in the Second World War, and Sir Archie McIndoe, the pioneering plastic surgeon who operated on many of the club’s members.

This session will take place at both Imperial War Museum London and the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons. Starting in the large exhibits gallery of the Imperial War Museum, students will investigate the dangers and injuries that airmen experienced by studying a Spitfire and handling artefacts from an airman’s kit. They will then use a range of archive material to uncover the story of Jack Toper, a member of the Guinea Pig Club, and the value of the social network they developed at the Queen Victoria Hospital.

The second part of the session will take place at the Hunterian Museum. Using objects and information found in the museum galleries, students will examine how the treatment of the airmen led to pioneering advances in surgical techniques. Students will learn about the role of Sir Archie McIndoe and his teacher, Sir Harold Gillies. Through a hands-on workshop they will also find out more about the development of surgical instruments and medical equipment and how they were used to treat injuries sustained in war.

Dates 3, 10, 13 February
Where Imperial War Museum London
Times 10.30am – 1.00pm (includes session, gallery time and lunch break)
Where Hunterian Museum
Times 1.30pm – 3.00pm
Suitability Year 9,

QCA Units: History
Unit 20: Twentieth-century medicine – how has it changed the lives of people? 
Unit 22: The role of the individual for good or ill?

Party Size Maximum 20

           
Images of Leadership: Hitler and Churchill
An art and history project that will examine the cult of leadership and the creation of myths surrounding figures such as Hitler and Churchill through photographs, posters, cartoons and paintings. Students will create their own posters and cartoons, and a comparison will also be made with how our world leaders are portrayed in the media today.

Dates 8–12 June
Times 10.30am and 1.30pm
Session length 1 hour 45 minutes
Suitability Year 9, KS3 option
Party Size Maximum 35

Art as Evidence and War Artists and Poets
Working in groups, students examine and evaluate artefacts, photographs and documents in relation to one of the following:

• First World War Art
• Second World War Art

Dates Throughout term by special arrangement
Times 10.30am and 2.00pm
Session length 1 hour 30 minutes
Suitability Year 9, KS3 option
Party Size Maximum 32

Art Gallery Talks
Talks on the First and Second World Wars can be tailored to the needs of specific age groups and abilities. Telephone 020 7416 5446 to discuss your requirements.

Dates Throughout term by special arrangement
Times By arrangement
Session length 30–45 minutes
Suitability Year 9
Party Size Maximum 15

Unspeakable: The Artist as Witness to the Holocaust
Interactive gallery tours can be arranged for students to explore the different ways
artists have tried to come to terms with the Holocaust – a difficult and in many ways
unspeakable episode in twentieth century history. The exhibition looks at work by official
war artists such as Leslie Cole and Doris Zinkeissen, contemporary artists such as Paul
Ryan and Jenny Stolzenberg and Holocaust survivors such as Roman Halter and Edith
Birkin.

Dates Throughout term by special arrangement
Times By arrangement
Session length 30–45 minutes
Suitability Year 9, KS3 option
Party Size Maximum 15

Special Educational Needs Days 
Specially devised handling sessions and/or gallery tours on a variety of themes connected to both the First and Second World Wars can be arranged.

Dates 28 November, 12 February, 5 June
Times By arrangement
Session length Flexible
Suitability Year 9, KS3 option
Party Size Maximum 15

Experiences led by actor-interpreters

Blitz Experience
An actor-interpreter in the role of an air raid warden takes children back in time to 1940 and the Blitz. Sessions include a general briefing and an escorted visit to the Blitz Experience complete with sound, smells and other special effects.

Dates See table for dates
Times 10.30am, 10.50, 11.10, 11.30, 11.50, 12.10pm, 1.00, 1.20, 1.40, 2.00
Session length 30 minutes
Suitability Years 3–11
Party Size Maximum 19 children and 1 adult
Cost £50 per session
Booking Schools will be invoiced

Please note that entry to the Blitz Experience must be booked, and all sessions are with an actor-interpreter.

Trench Experience
An actor-interpreter in the role of either a First World War soldier or a nurse in a casualty clearing station will help pupils find out about life in the trenches and behind the lines on the Western Front. Also includes a visit to the Museum’s trench re-creation, the Trench Experience.

Dates See table for dates
Times 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm
Session length 30 minutes
Suitability Years 5–11
Party Size Maximum 19 children and 1 adult
Cost £50 per session
Booking Schools will be invoiced