In May 2022, with the support of funding bodies including the National Heritage Lottery Fund and ACE/V&A Purchase Grant Award, Nottingham City Museums was able to acquire the last known portrait of the writer D.H. Lawrence (1885-1939) by Joep Nicolas and to display it at Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire.

To support this important acquisition, we have created this resource for schools, to encourage groups to explore the writings of D.H. Lawrence, his love of Nottinghamshire and the natural world.

Lawrence often wrote about his appreciation of the natural world as well as the alienation of humankind from nature, due to industrialism. His writings reflect not just his intense response to the beauty of the natural world, but also his ability to see human life in a holistic interconnectedness with the natural environment. This was before the environment became such an important topic of discussion, concern and action.

This resource aims to explore these ideas, draw parallels with our concerns today and to encourage people to appreciate their connection to the natural world.

The resource book includes three themes to explore with your class, The Colour of Nature, Mapping your Locality and being a Change Maker.

Each theme includes

• An introduction to the theme and how it relates to D.H. Lawrence
• Lesson ideas using writing and visual arts to explore these themes using poems and extracts of writings by D.H. Lawrence
• A resources list and step by step guide
• Curriculum links, plus supporting resources if you would like to develop these into a wider scheme of work

These activities can be used as stand alone sessions or as part of a longer scheme of work. Each are aimed at KS2 classes but can be adjusted for younger or older age groups.

The Teachers resources can be downloaded below.

The writing tasks videos from the resource can also be viewed below, full information to accompany these sessions can be found in the Teacher’s resource.

For Nottingham schools we also have a FREE resource book which can be borrowed for your school to use with this resource, information for this can be found here:

( Please note the QR codes in the pack are currently not working, we are working to fix this as soon as possible)