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British Empire KS3-5

Soldiers demonstrating a trench mortar

Explore empire through objects, galleries and the stories often left out of the display case. 

This workshop helps students investigate the British Empire as a complex and contested history. Through object handling, gallery enquiry and curatorial decision making, students examine how empire was built, experienced, resisted and remembered. 

Designed for KS3, KS4 and KS5 History, the session supports teaching around empire, slavery, colonialism, conflict, representation and historical interpretation.

See our British Empire Learning Resources for free videos, images and audio files to use with your pupils to support pre-visit preparation and follow-up classroom learning. 

Royal Armouries Museum

Workshop

KS3, KS4, KS5

90 minutes

£5 per pupil

Curriculum and exam focus

This workshop supports the teaching of empire, colonialism, conflict, slavery, resistance and historical interpretation across KS3, KS4 and KS5. It is designed to help students move beyond a single story of empire by using objects, museum displays and curatorial thinking. 

KS3: 

  • Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901.
  • Disciplinary skills: builds enquiry and evidential thinking skills by considering and using interpretations, perspectives, and judgements. 

GCSE: 

  • AQA Britain: Migration, Empires and the People c790 to the present day. 
  • Pearson Edexcel Migrants in Britain, c800 to present. 
  • OCR The Impact of Empire on Britain 1688 to c.1730. 
  • Disciplinary skills: Supports source analysis, object-based evidence, historical interpretation, significance, change and continuity, comparison, and evaluating how narratives about the past are constructed. 

A Level: 

  • AQA The British Empire c.1857-1967.
  • Disciplinary skills: Supports analysis of historical interpretations, contested narratives, public history, representation, evidence and the construction of imperial memory. 

What to expect

Students begin with a short, accessible introduction to the key themes, questions and debates surrounding empire. This will set up two sessions: 

Object handling 

Students will take part in a hands-on object handling session. Using objects as historical evidence, they will investigate how weapons, warfare and material culture connect to the histories of empire and the people affected by British rule.

Teachers choose three focus topics from the following four options:

  • The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
  • British India and the 1857 Rebellion
  • The Anglo-Zulu and Boer Wars
  • The British Empire in the First World War

Gallery enquiry and curating new stories 

Students explore the museum galleries to investigate how empire is currently represented. They ask whose stories are told, whose are missing, and how displays shape our understanding of the past. They then use the handling objects to curate and argue for new displays that tell underrepresented narratives. 

Gallery Links

Horses with armour and men wearing armour in a museum gallery
The War Gallery

War Gallery

Explore how the history of warfare has changed from the early days of hand-to-hand combat to today’s technology-based warfare, including our new display on the Second World War.

Visit the War Gallery

Book Now

When you email us, please provide the following information:

  • Name and address of school, organisation, or home educated group
  • First, second, and third choice of date
  • Number of pupils and number of adults
  • If you would like to visit the museum shop
  • If you require coach parking
  • Any other additional information you’d like us to know (e.g special education needs) 

Find our Education Bookings Terms and Conditions 

Email: educate.leeds@armouries.org.uk

Phone: 07785 692443

Due to the high volume of enquiries we receive, please only call us if you have already booked a visit and your enquiry is urgent. 

Learning packs and resources

Education Visit Pack 2025-2026 (pdf, 576KB)

Contact our communications team if you require documents in an alternative format.

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