Alnwick school pilots new website bringing history to life for Northumberland pupils

The Learning and Educational Archives Resources from Northumberland (LEARN) website has been developed by Northumberland Archives, thanks to a £5,000 grant from The National Archives.

The digital learning platform was developed with the help of nine schools in the county who were part of a pilot scheme to test the site and develop content.

Created using documents from the archives the platform focuses on four themes: Crime & Punishment, Victorians, World War One and World War Two.

Each theme includes suggested resources, lesson plans and activities for teachers to download and use in class. The project is aimed at Key Stage 2 to life-long learners.

There is also an option for users to upload their own resources, including examples of students' work and lesson plans.

Sue Wood, head of archives said: “This has been a first for the archives team to work collaboratively with schools to create something which can help bring history to life for teachers and learners.

“We have worked really closely with them to understand the type of documents which would be useful and are now able to provide them in an easy to access way to benefit pupils in their learning.”

Duchess’s Community High School in Alnwick took part in the pilot scheme.

Rosie Bush, its culture and community co-ordinator, said: "The LEARN website provides excellent resources and lesson ideas which can be tailored for a wide variety of year groups.

"Using archived materials has brought lessons alive and made teaching big topics more relevant and localised for our young people."

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