Pupils in North East England get hands-on with history

Our first education service delivered locally with North East Museums will allow young people in North East England to work with our historic records without having to travel to London.

This new opportunity has been made possible by an exciting partnership with Tyne & Wear Archives based at Newcastle’s Discovery Museum.

Gillian Johnston, Education and Outreach Manager (North East) at The National Archives, recently said:

“This area has a rich and fascinating history and now for the first time pupils can experience working with material from both The National Archives and North East Museums’ collections.”

Clare Smith, Learning and Engagement Manager at North East Museums, recently said:

“It’s a privilege and very exciting to be the first organisation in the country to work with The National Archives in this way and to be able to bring the nation’s historical collections to young people in our region. We’ll be bringing the region’s stories to life.”

An example of the documents young people will be able to examine is HO 144/599/184276, a Home Office file about women’s struggle for the right to vote with records about a suffragette protest in Newcastle in October 1909.

On site sessions will be taught by our experienced educators at Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne and in schools. Online workshops are also available. Secondary schools in the North East of England can book from this week.

The new workshops have been designed to support the Key Stage 3 History curriculum and GCSE and A-level History courses. If you are a secondary school teacher based in the North East and would like to find out more, please email educationbookingsne@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

A bursary is available to help eligible schools with the costs of travel to the workshops.

The project is supported by The National Archives Trust and made possible through the generosity of Joanna & Graham Barker, the Barbour Foundation, Gregory Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg, the Bisset Trust, the Schroder Charity Trust and the Hadrian Trust.