Themes

Cartoon illustrating a nautical phrase c.1930s (RNM)

How to use the Resources

This website provides access to a wealth of information to help explore the role of the Royal Navy throughout the 20th century. It is an ideal way to build historical enquiry and thinking skills in a creative and stimulating way.

By accessing first-hand accounts and original sources children can gain a sense of empathy for people and their experiences that they wouldn’t get from a book or most websites. Not only can you find fascinating examples of primary evidence on the site itself you can also access the Royal Naval Museum's online catalogue which includes thousands of records to use.

Take the theme of women and the Navy for instance. We have chosen just a few examples of the huge range of resources available on the Sea Your History website to demonstrate how to build up a diverse and thought provoking collection.

Women and the Navy

Timeline

There are a range of timelines available which will help students understand chronology. There is a specific timeline available which covers the changing role of women within the Navy.

How to...

There are fun, interactive features on the website which allow children to explore subjects in new ways. You could use the How to... Understand Naval Uniform section to find out about what Wrens used to wear.

WRNS playing hockey. c.1950 (RNM)

Documents

Documents such as letters, diary entries and official reports provide an insight into people's lives and can provide different perspectives on the same event. They can be used to encourage children to question the reliability of accounts which is a vital skill to be a successful historian.

Official Documents
Release Document Envelope issued to Petty Officer Catherine Weir of the Women's Royal Naval Service.

Personal letters
Letters between Mabel Mulholland and Algernon Foster

Images
A picture is worth a thousand words and photographs, paintings, drawings and posters can offer powerful ways of learning about history.

Photographs
Photographs from an album kept by the Women’s Royal Naval Service unit at HMS Fulmar II, dating from 1950 to 1961

Cartoons
Cartoons from Elfin Echoes

Posters
Free a Man for the Fleet' brochure, WW2

Oral History
It can be extremely powerful to hear real people talk about their lives and oral history is an excellent way of bringing these experiences to life for children.
Listen to Sarah Jackson talk about her life in the Navy

Resources like these can be effectively incorporated into a lesson to ensure that factual content is backed up and enhanced by primary evidence. You could find a similar range of resources for all sorts of topics like World War 2, technology or life in the Navy.

By using an interactive whiteboard these resources can be made accessible to a whole class or you could help to improve children's ICT skills by setting them topics to research.

A postcard sent from a World War One prisoner of war camp. (RNM)