St George free teaching resources

By Rachel Hayward | 03 February 2011
Image of the National Gallery 1470 painting of Saint George and the Dragon by Paolo Uccello showing the armoured Saint riding a white steed against a mountainous landscape and thrusting a lance into the heavily bleeding open jawed dragon in front of its cave
St George and the Dragon, about 1470, by Paolo Uccello© National Gallery, London
Think of St George and a dragon-fighting, damsel-in-distress-saving hero may come to mind. But apparently, only one in five of us know that St George's Day falls on April 23 each year, and a quarter don't even know he's England’s patron saint.

The UK museums have some useful resources for your pupils all about St George to redress the balance.

Show Me - a pupil-friendly guide to St George
Our kids' site Show Me has useful info, images and links to museum content in our Who was St George? feature. This includes a link to the breathtaking Uccello painting above on the National Gallery website where you can zoom right into St George and the Dragon.

There are links to knights' games, info on jousting and real-world St George's Day events in our Show Me piece, Celebrate St George's Day with knights' games and more.

We love this YouTube reading of the poem, Not My Best Side, by U A Fanthorpe. It's based on Uccello's painting and is perfect as a classroom activity. Get the kids to imagine what the 'characters' in the painting are thinking and then let them listen to the poet's version...




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