Remembrance Day

Resource type: Event

Price band: Free

Key stage: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5

Region(s): All of UK

Remembrance Day is celebrated across the Commonwealth on 11th November, the day that WWI ended in 1918.

The Royal British Legion provides free cross-curricular resources to support the Teaching of Remembrance from KS1 through to KS5. The resources are linked to the National Curriculum and include:

Remembrance Assemblies for all ages.
Lesson plans, short activities and whole school projects to explore Remembrance through poetry and story, art, music, original photographs and film, including Book Club resources for KS2 and KS3.
Sounds of Remembrance project – a whole school primary project to create an audio time capsule that records the ways people in the community take part in Remembrance.

All the resources are also available in Welsh.

Cost: Free with registration.

About The Royal British Legion: The Royal British Legion was set up in 1921 as a national network to support the Armed Forces community in the UK. They provide support to serving and ex-serving personnel and their families as well as coordinating the annual Poppy Appeal.

Further resources:

Catch up on the BBC’s Remembrance – Literacy Live Lesson broadcast on Wednesday 8th November exploring the significance of Remembrance Day through poetry and real-life accounts from veterans. Suitable for pupils aged 7-11.
The National Literacy Trust is running a live-streamed online Remembrance Live Assembly for pupils aged 9-12 at 10.20am on Friday 10th November. The interactive event will bring together poetry, art, music and veteran interviews to help pupils understand the importance of Remembrance.
Join Mr Dilly and best-selling children’s authors, Phil Earle, David Farr, Hiba Noor Kahn and Tony Bradman, as they talk about their latest war-themed children’s novels in a special Remembrance Day event for pupils aged 7-12 on Friday 10th November.
Poppyscotland offers a range of teaching resources to support all levels of the Curriculum for Excellence. These include original photos, veteran films, assemblies, interactive activities, and teaching notes to accompany a range of thought-provoking reads developed in partnership with the National Literacy Trust.
Best-selling author Tom Palmer has created a range of Remembrance Day resources, including a short video with a Remembrance Day message and a three-part read aloud story with accompanying resources about the Barnbow Lasses who worked in a munitions factory in Leeds during the First World War. There are also downloadable resources to accompany many of his popular WWI and WWII stories.
Get involved with Young Writers’ ‘Lest We Forget’ poetry competition. Young people aged 4-18 are invited to submit a poem in any style on the theme of war and peace by 17th November. Every entrant will receive a bookmark and selected poems will be published in a special poetry anthology. Download accompanying teaching resources for UKS2 pupils here.
Explore the poems in the First World War Poetry Showcase on the Poetry by Heart website. The collection covers a wide range of experiences and voices. Each poem comes with notes and many also feature readings by young people.
Find further Remembrance Day resources for primary and secondary students on the BBC Teach website, including Assembly Packs and links to abridged readings of two of Michael Morpurgo’s war stories – Private Peaceful and War Horse.
Books for Topics has an
LoveReading4Kids has an Armistice Day recommended reading list covering fiction and non-fiction for all ages.
See the Remembrance Day booklist from the team at Toppsta, the book recommendation site powered by reviews by young people.
Find further book recommendations for primary and secondary pupils covering WWI and WWII from LoveReading4Kids.
Artist Darrell Wakelam has a simple but very effective art project for an Egg Box Poppy. Find instructions here.