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History KS2: True Stories

BBC Teach > Primary Resources > History KS2

From Florence Nightingale to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, these short video dramatisations introduce the stories of ten children who grew up and changed the world.

These short films are taken from the original BBC series, True Stories and are suitable for teaching KS2 pupils and older in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Second Level and older in Scotland.

Alexander Graham Bell
video

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell tells the story of his life and describes how he invented the telephone.

Florence Nightingale
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Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale tells the story of her life and how she grew up to become a nurse.

Harriet Tubman
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Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman explains how she escaped slavery and then helped others to do so.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel shares how he became an engineer and tunnelled through Box Hill.

Mary Anning
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Mary Anning

Mary Anning describes how her astonishing fossil finds changed scientific thinking.

Edward Jenner
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Edward Jenner

Edward Jenner tells the story of his life and the vaccination against smallpox.

Elizabeth Fry
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Elizabeth Fry

Elizabeth Fry describes how she reformed life for prisoners and their families in prison.

Grace Darling
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Grace Darling

Grace Darling describes the night she and her father rowed out in a boat to save sailors.

Rosa Parks
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Rosa Parks

How Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat changed the rules of American society.

Thomas Barnardo
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Thomas Barnardo

Thomas Barnardo tells the story of setting up his first home for London's street children.