Year 12 History trip to The National Archives

On the 7^th of July, Year 12 history students visited The National Archives in Kew as a part of their A-level Russian history course. During the visit, students took part in a workshop exploring historical documents relating to Tsarist and Communist Russia, getting to handle source material from over one hundred years ago. To start, students were given an introduction to the National Archives, learning that it houses millions of documents and is thought to be nuclear bomb proof, before moving into the examination of some of these documents.

The workshop allowed students to get hands-on experience by examining these historical documents, analysing sources to explore different aspects of the European politics of the time. The workshop saw students being given a variety of mystery documents, for which they had to make their predications. ‘From whose perspective might this source have been written, where was it from and when was it written?’ were all questions students were asked to think about. The big reveal came towards the end of the session when the truth of the documents was revealed, many being written by spies working for the British. This session encouraged students to use their critical thinking skills in order to consider different perspectives and use the limited evidence they had to form their conclusions. It was a valuable experience and a new way for students to interact with their history course, one which they thoroughly enjoyed.