• Rehearsal for reception of evacuees

Learning Objectives:

• know what evacuation was and why it was introduced by the Government
• empathise with the experience of WWII children

Suggested Activity:

1. Set up a role play activity using Rehearsal for reception of evacuees
2. Discussion: What was evacuation? Why was evacuation introduced by the Government?
3. Set up a pupil guided research activity using some of the other items relating to the evacuation schme and the experience of evacuees.
4. Discussion: What was it like to be evacuated? Would you like to have been evacuated? What would it have felt to be told that you were going to be evacuated? What might parents / teachers tell children about evacuation?
5. Pupils could plan a lesson for a school class who are about to be evacuated. Is there any information that they will withhold or twist to prevent upset?!
   How might this be adapted for younger / older children?

• select information from historical sources
• consider how people's lives were affected by the evacuation scheme
• understand that there were positive and negative experiences of evacuation

Suggested Activity:

1. Play the oral history extract, Interview with Bob Hammond.
2. Discussion: Was evacuation an exciting or a frightening experience? How were children's lives affected by evacuation? Was anyone else affected other than the evacuees themselves?
3. Pupils work with a selection of the other archive items relating to evacuation and evacuees - go to the Summary page for this topic for some good examples - to make a list of good and bad experiences of evacuation.
4. Pupils could write a letter from an evacuee / parent / foster parent / billeting officer describing a positive or negative evacuation experience.
   

• Gotham schoolboys

• select information from historical sources
• understand some of the ways local children' lives were affected by the war
• recognise that children's experiences differed across the country

Suggested Activity:

1. Pupils work in groups with a selection of the archive items relating to children. Pupils sort the items into those that show that the war was exciting for children and those that suggest it was boring.
2. Discussion: What would it have been like to be a child during WWII? Was it exciting or boring? Why? Would children in other areas of Britain have had a similar experience? How might where you live affect your experience?
3. Pupils could write a diary entry imagining that they are a WWII child.

• select information from historical sources
• know what the Blitz was and how it affected local people
• know about different air raid precautions taken during WWII

Suggested Activity:

1. Display Bomb damage at Conduit Street, Leicester and discuss what the photograph shows.
2. Discussion: What was the Blitz?
3. Set up a pupil guided research task using some of the other archive items?How did bombing affect people in the local area? What air raid precautions did they take?
   Pupils could write a panel for a local museum display about the Blitz.

• Air raid precautions for schools

Learning Objectives:

• know the key features of an instructional text

Suggested Activity:

1. Study Air raid precautions for schools
2. Discussion: What are the features of this piece of writing?
3. Pupils could design and write their own instructions for school fire drill procedures.

• Death of evacuee at Hallaton

Learning Objectives:

• consider how to play safely

Suggested Activity:

1. Study Death of evacuee at Hallaton as a class.
2. Discussion: What can be leant from this story? How can we play safely?
3. Pupils could design a poster / leaflet for primary children that gives advice on safe play.