Videoconferencing

Videoconferencing brings National Portrait Gallery portraits and staff into your school. Our videoconferences are lively discussions between your pupils and our Gallery educators, engaging in ideas around history, art and famous people through portraiture. Please note that all sessions can be booked only through Global Leap, not directly by the National Portrait Gallery. See www.global-leap.org for the current videoconferencing schedule. Please state on your booking form which topic you require of those on offer for any particular day. Please also read our tips for having a successful videoconference with us (see Booking information)

Booking: Bookings for all sessions should be made via www.global-leap.org. Please note, bookings are not taken directly by the Gallery. Full booking information

Catherine Maria ('Kitty') Fisher
by Nathaniel Hone
1765
NPG 2354

Key Stage 1

Your class should ideally be divided in half with each group getting 25 to 30 minutes videoconferencing.

Growing up in the Past

Using three or four key portraits, get to know King Charles II from babyhood through to early childhood with his brother and sisters and his pets. At age twelve, he is shown in armour ready for his first battle.

• 2 sessions of 30 minutes or 1 hour
• 2 groups of maximum 15, or a class of maximum 30
• Follow-up webquest: KS1 Children and Families

Preparation: ideally some of the group should bring photocopies of photographs of themselves as babies to show us. Please divide your class in half with each group receiving 25 – 30 minutes videoconferencing.

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
replica by Franz Xaver Winterhalter
1867 (1859)
NPG 237

Animals in Portraits

Look at pets and other animals in paintings from the past. Pupils are encouraged to bring drawings of their own pets or favourite animals to discuss in this session.

• 2 sessions of 30 minutes or 1 hour
• 2 groups of maximum 15 or a class of maximum 30
• Possible follow-up webquest: KS1 Art Model Animals

Thomas Stearns ('T.S.') Eliot
by Patrick Heron
1949
NPG 4467

Famous People

This lively storytelling session combines looking at one or more portraits with a story about the fascinating life of a famous person.

Choose one topic from:

• Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
• Samuel Pepys and the Fire of London
• King Charles II’s escape by hiding in the oak tree
• Lord Nelson
• Florence Nightingale and nursing at Scutari
• Mary Seacole
• Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit

• 2 sessions of 30 minutes or 1 hour
• 2 groups of maximum 15 or a class of maximum 30
• Follow-up webquest: KS1 History Florence Nightingale (available soon)
• Follow-up website: The Great Fire of London, using museum artefacts and original documents, created by the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of London, the London Fire Brigade and two major archives www.fireoflondon.org.uk.

Toys in Portraits

Discover how toys have changed from the past to the present through looking at paintings and photographs of children with their toys. Pupils are encouraged to bring in drawings of their favourite toys.

• 2 sessions of 30 minutes or 1 hour
• 2 groups of maximum 15 or a class of maximum 30
• Follow-up webquest: KS1 History Toys from the Past

Victorian Seaside

We enjoy going to the seaside today, but what were seaside holidays like more than a hundred years ago? What did people enjoy doing there, what did they wear, how did they get there and what was different from today?

• 2 sessions of 30 minutes or 1 hour
• 2 groups of max 15 or a class of max 30

Victorian Christmas

When did Christmas celebrations that we enjoy today, like the Christmas tree, Christmas cards, Christmas puddings and trips to the pantomime, first become popular? Who were the people who helped shape our present Christmas Day fun?

• 2 sessions of 30 minutes or 1 hour
• 2 groups of maximum 15 or a class of maximum 30

Kenneth Grahame
by Anthony Wysard
NPG D275

History at Key Stage 2

Sir Henry Unton: The Life of an Elizabethan Gentleman

Find out how a painting tells the life story of an ambassador of Queen Elizabeth I. How were babies cared for? What was a Tudor banquet like? What jobs did servants do? How did rich and poor people interact? Pupils discover the answers to these and other questions as they explore this fascinating portrait with its many detailed scenes.

• 45 minutes to 1 hour
• One class, 30 pupils maximum
• Follow-up webquest: KS2 History Tudor Film Set (about grand Tudor houses)

Sir Francis Drake
by Unknown artist
circa 1580
NPG 4032

Tudors

Learn about famous monarchs, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, through investigating three paintings. This session can be tailored to emphasise the early Tudors or the Elizabethans on request.

• 45 minutes to 1 hour
• One class, 30 pupils maximum
• Follow-up webquests: KS2 History Henry VIII’s next wife? and Painting Elizabeth I 

Tudor Seafarers       

This session looks at portraits of some of the key figures in the English voyages of discovery, including Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Ralegh.

• 45 minutes to 1 hour
• One class, 30 pupils maximum

Victorians

Investigate the lives and experiences of famous people from Victorian Britain, including Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and other famous people, for example, Florence Nightingale or selected Victorian writers. We welcome your suggestions at the booking stage.

• 45 minutes to 1 hour
• One class, 30 pupils maximum
• Possible follow-up webquest: KS2 History The Great Exhibition

Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett
by Herbert Rose Barraud
published 1888
NPG x5179

Art at Key Stage 2

Getting the Message

Examine how a portrait by Reynolds, Gainsborough and their contemporaries can convey messages about the sitter through pose, expression, accessories, composition and background.

• 45 minutes to 1 hour
• One class, 30 pupils maximum
• Follow-up webquest: KS2 Art Portrait Prize

Styles of Contemporary Painting

Pupils learning about three or four different styles used in twentieth and twenty-first century portraits, gaining the confidence to express likes and dislikes about the portraits discussed, giving reasons for their opinions.

• 45 minutes to 1 hour
• One class, 30 pupils maximum
• Follow-up webquest: KS2 Art Painting in Style

Joanne Kathleen ('J.K.') Rowling
by Stuart Pearson Wright
2005
NPG 6723

Literacy at Key Stage 2

Older Literature – Meet Authors from the Past

Get to know authors from the past through looking at portraits and reading and discussing an extract of their writing. Select one author from this list:

• Charles Dickens
• RL Stevenson
• E Nesbit
• Rudyard Kipling
• Kenneth Grahame
• Frances Hodgson Burnett
• AA Milne
• Richmal Crompton
• Dodie Smith
• JK Rowling

Preparation: Please bring short presentation to share with us about a favourite author, with an extract to read aloud and, if possible, a picture of them. This need not be an author on this list.

• 45 minutes to 1 hour
• One class, 30 pupils maximum
• Follow-up webquest: KS2 English Just So Stories (Reading and writing animal stories)

Videoconferencing CPD

CPD sessions on videoconferencing are available on certain Thursdays from 16.00 to 17.00 for teachers from mainstream Primary schools.