What we offer for Schools - Key Stage 4

Illustrated Talks

Life in Wartime Britain
A general survey, making use of the rich resources of the Photographic and Art departments of the Imperial War Museum, and including evacuation, gasmasks, shelters, bombing, rationing, women’s work and the impact of Commonwealth and US personnel on British life.

GIs and girls on VE Day

GIs, Girls and Gum
‘Overpaid, oversexed and over ‘ere’; but were they?  What were the effects of the friendly invasion of Americans on wartime and post war Britain?

Women at War
The contribution of women to the war effort, and the impact of war on their lives.

British Wartime Propaganda
A  consideration of the aims and methods or the Ministry of Information, focusing particularly on posters and film and with some comparison with German methods.

The Two Home Fronts
Comparing life and work in Britain and Germany during the Second World War.

Churchill’s Finest Hour?
What was his background, and what was he like as Prime Minister?

Churchill and D-Day troops

Churchill and D-Day
What part did Churchill play in the planning and operations of the Normandy Landings?

Churchill and the Cold War
How did Churchill view the conflicts which followed the peace of 1945?

Whole day study sessions for GCSE  
A combination of talk, tours of the war rooms, and document and artefact workshop, aimed at GCSE Coursework assignments.

Cabinet War Rooms as a ‘historic site’ for the coursework for the OCR Schools History Project.  A day’s study here offers an opportunity to make use of artefacts, written and printed sources, photographs and oral history recordings to consider ‘how efficient, safe and comfortable was the Cabinet War Rooms as a wartime base for the Government

The Edexcel ‘The Myth of the Blitz’ coursework topic can also be the basis of a full day’s workshop, with propaganda films, photographs and posters, and a range of printed sources.

Women in Wartime:  Image and Reality, is another topic which can benefit from an extended examination of women’s roles, and their depiction in film, posters and printed sources.

Comparing the Two Home Fronts.  This offers an opportunity for extended discussion of leadership styles, propaganda methods and day to day life in Britain and Germany.