Open accessibilty tools

World War One in the Tees Valley

Exhibition title: World War One in the Tees Valley

School: Pathways Special School – 18 students from Years 4-7

Curriculum areas covered: History, Literacy, Geography and Art

What we did to find out about our topic and create our exhibition: We planned our topic collaboratively between the year group staff and used the online toolkit. The students visited the Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum which provided an amazing, multi-sensory and kinaesthetic experience that really hooked them in and engaged them. We then researched the Hartlepool bombardment (using the painting from the Museum of Hartlepool), looked at life in the trenches and at home and compared women’s roles before and during the war. We found the objects in the loans box really useful for our kinaesthetic learners. We did a lot of talking about objects, including a “show and tell” session where students shared objects with each other. We also used authentic propaganda posters to inspire students to create their own.

In planning our exhibition, we went back to the toolkit for ideas. We used the loans box items, made our own work for display and invited other students, staff and parents.

Our exhibition included:

  • Information banners from The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum
  • An artefacts table, using the loans items
  • Did you know …? fact labels written by the students
  • Image courtesy of Pathways Special School

    How I used the toolkit: I visited the web page a number of times and used the toolkit as the basis for planning with colleagues. The sections gave us a good structure to plan the whole topic, and activities for both groups, well in advance. We used images from the web resource with students, e.g. The Bombardment of the Hartlepools, and found the Inspiration Gallery very useful. Not all the information in the toolkit is relevant for Special Schools, which made it quite difficult to choose at times, but I would definitely recommend it.

    Top tips for other teachers:

    “Plan collaboratively with colleagues”
    Pick the best bits from the toolkit and link to the curriculum. It’s important to start simple, but then build in multi-sensory experiences through art, crafts, museum visits and the objects.

    “Invite parents and remind children every week!”
    We will definitely be doing this again. I think an exhibition at least once a year is a great idea, especially for getting parents involved.

    Gertrude Bell

    'Gertrude Bell' exhibition by Lealholm Primary School, KS2

    World War One in the Tees Valley

    'World War One in the Tees Valley' exhibition by Pathways Special School - 18 students from years 4-7