Free learning resources from arts, cultural and heritage organisations.

Teachers' Notes

Resource created by M&S Archive.

This resource uses images and documents from the M&S Archive collection relating to the war effort and the experiences of staff members during the war. 

You can also download an M&S Second World War timeline, which sets significant M&S events against key dates in history.

Curriculum Links

  • KS3 History: Second World War
  • KS3 Citizenship:Ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities.
  • KS4 Citizenship:  Human rights (equality)

Learning Objectives

  • Knowledge of what everyday workers did to contribute to the war effort
  • Understanding of how the War affected the lives of M&S employees
  • Improving the skills of source analysis and artifact interpretation.

 

Discussion Ideas

KS3 History:

  1. A large number of M&S stores were hit by enemy bombs during the war - discuss whether this was accidental or whether the stores were being targeted.
    • Was the location of each store an important factor?
  2. Many male M&S employees were called away to serve in the Armed Forces. What effect would this have had on how the stores operated?
    • Do you think the stores would have been more or less busy than before the war?
  3. As well as firefighting, what other jobs can you think of that would have normally been done by men at the time, which were then carried out by women during the war?
  4. Why do you think the melted cash float was mounted on a special display block, and is now part of the M&S Archive collection?
  5. It was a huge task for the Personnel Department to write letters to all M&S employees serving in the Armed Forces - why do you think they decided to do this?
  6. What do you think it would have meant to those M&S employees serving in the Armed Forces to receive the Christmas bulletin?
    • What things would they have missed from home?
  7. The Christmas message on page one of the 1944 Forces Bulletin includes the sentence: 'life is reduced to a mere primitive existence full of hazards and uncertainties'. Discuss what you think was meant by this phrase.
    • Do you think today's Armed Forces on active service share any of the same experiences?
  8. In the 1944 Forces Bulletin the Store Superintendent's report says:
    'Where you once saw a price limit of 5/-, with occasionally 6/11d, prices now run up to 67/6d'. Why do you think prices rose so dramatically during the war?
    • Would higher prices have meant bigger profits for the shops or not?
    • Give reasons for your answers.

KS3/4 Citizenship:

  1. After the war, women were expected to return to their home or office jobs, but some of them protested and started campaigning for equal employment rights and equal pay. Why do you think they felt this way?
  2. What action can be taken to ensure that everyone is treated equally at work? 
    • What are your employment rights under British law?

Activity Ideas

You can also download an M&S Second World War timeline (see Resources), which sets significant M&S events against key dates in history.

KS3 History:

Download the Christmas Edition of the M&S Forces Bulletin No.8, 1944 and try some of the activities below:

  • Read the article on 'Escapes'. Imagine you are either Private Gardiner or Guardsman Eddy and you've just reached safety in Switzerland. Write a letter to one of your relatives back home describing how you got there.
  • Imagine you work in the M&S Personnel Department and write a letter to either Private Gardiner or Guardsman Eddy in their Prisoner of War camp, including some news from home to keep their spirits up.
  • Read the Christmas message on page one then compose your own 'message of hope'.