Brand New Website Inspiring Students To Learn More About Civil War

A year of work from the Learning Team at the National Civil War Centre, in collaboration with Newcastle University’s Education Outreach Team, has come to fruition this month with the launch of a fantastic new website for Key Stage 3 students.

The site, which can be found at britishcivilwars.ncl.ac.uk, aims to help develop knowledge and understanding of the British Civil Wars among 11 to 14 year olds with fascinating facts, videos, quizzes, activities and engaging illustrations.

Taking inspiration from National Civil War Centre artefacts and the Civil War tracts in Newcastle University Special Collections, and drawing on the expertise of historian Professor Rachel Hammersley from Newcastle University, the website will provide opportunities for students to engage with rich primary source material and develop their source comprehension, interpretation and analysis skills.

The National Civil War Centre’s brilliant team of volunteers have been involved in the site’s creation too with some getting involved in research and proofreading while the museum was closed.

Sarah Clarke, Learning and Participation Manager at the National Civil War Centre, said: “This is such a significant period in British history which has been sorely overlooked in the past. We’re delighted to be able to provide this great resource to help young people look at the conflict’s chronology, cause and consequence, as well as the changes it wrought in 17^th society which still echo today. Our two teams have been working hard on this for almost a year and we’re enormously excited to see it out in the open and starting to make a positive impact.”

The two institutions began working together after meeting at a GEM Conference in 2018. Since then they have partnered with two schools, Ponteland High School and Newark Academy, delivering specialised learning including a drama project in 2019. Through this work, they have gained a better understanding of how best to appeal to and communicate with Key Stage 3 students and this has informed every stage of the site’s creation.

After the launch of the site, the teams are planning to continue work with the schools, having just begun a Dragon’s Den style competition for students to pitch an idea for a new quiz, the winners of which will be added to the website this autumn.

Sara Bird, Education Officer at Newcastle University Library, said: “Challenging the students to conceive and pitch the idea for an online Civil War game is a great way to encourage creativity in a ‘real life’ environment. It is a fantastic opportunity for them to consider Heritage jobs and work with professionals from outside of the school environment from the National Civil War Centre and Newcastle University.”

The National Civil War Centre have also recently begun hosting schools again for their popular interactive learning sessions and, having filled their slots for the summer term are now taking bookings for autumn. To find out more, visit www.nationalcivilwarcentre.com/learn.