Exploring history where it happened - The legacy of Winston Churchill

The idea of this trip was born out of the need to give students in Sixth Form an industry link to their curriculum. Quite aside from the cultural capital associated with visiting good quality locations, being able to explore industry links and in particular visiting the places where history happened plays a role in kinaesthetic learning, making learning more active and purposeful.

In this particular case, the Churchill War Rooms in London were the place where the war was conducted from and directly links to Winston Churchill’s role as a war leader. Inside there is also the Churchill Museum which, together with the war rooms, corresponds to the knowledge acquired by the students as they studied the first three units of the A-Level course Y113 Britain 1930-1997.

Being a Sixth Form group, the visit to the CWR was very relaxed. The students were given autonomy to go around the displays and take notes and pictures. Mr Portela supported the group with links to the curriculum and Ms Carpenter was in charge of the photographic coverage.

As we exited the CWR students were very impressed by the quality of the displays, as well as how the information matched the curriculum, in particular about Churchill’s role as a war leader.