BPMA launches free First World War Learning Resource for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3

27 August 2014

The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) has launched a new, free First World War learning resource, sponsored by Royal Mail, supporting learning across the curriculum for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. Last Post: The Postal Service in the First World War, explores the role of the General Post Office (GPO) on the home and fighting fronts and reveals the fascinating human stories of the postal service.

Over 75,000 men from the GPO fought in the First World War, including 12,000 in the Post Office Rifles, the GPO’s own battalion. On the Home Front the GPO became one of the largest employers of women when over 33,000 women took over the jobs left by men.

During the First World War, the GPO controlled Britain’s postal, telegraph and telephone services. Letters from home were essential to the morale of soldiers on the Front Line. At the height of the war 12.5 million letters a week reached the Front from Britain, many in as little as two days.

In Last Post, war time characters guide pupils through different topics that tell the story of the essential role of the GPO in the First World War. Pupils will use real archival documents, photographs, maps and museum objects to discover how the postal service went to war.

Cross-curricular activities include how to make a Morse code transmitter, how to send a secret message by pigeon post and how to search the Royal Mail war memorials database to learn about the impact of the war in your area.

The free resource includes lesson plans, teacher’s notes, PowerPoints for whiteboards, image galleries and over 100 activity ideas.