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English KS2: War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

Notes and follow-up activities for each episode (3.5MB pdf)

Teachers' Notes for War Horse

The year is 1912 and a gangly colt is sold to a Devon farmer. The colt is led back to the farm where he makes friends with the farmer’s son, 13-year-old Albert Narracott.

Episode 1: A separation

The farm is in financial difficulty but the outbreak of war gives Mr Narracott the chance to make some money by selling Joey.

Episode 2: A cavalry horse

Joey trains as a cavalry mount and makes friends with Topthorn, a black stallion. Then the two horses find themselves on a troop ship, bound for the battlefields of .

Episode 3: The Western Front

Joey has a new rider, the kind-hearted but heavy-handed, Trooper Warren. Joey and Topthorn ride into battle a second time and are stranded behind enemy lines with their riders.

Episode 4: Prisoners of war

Joey and Topthorn are in the hands of the German army and put to work hauling an ambulance cart between the front line and a field hospital. Their one consolation is that they are stabled at a local farm and cared for by Emilie - a frail, young French girl - and her elderly grandfather.

Episode 5: A brief respite

Joey and Topthorn endure a tough life hauling a gun carriage around the Front. The conditions take their toll on Topthorn, but he is cared for by an old soldier called Friedrich.

Episode 6: Working for the Germans

The German camp is attacked by the British and a terrified Joey bolts away from the gunfire. Later he finds himself alone in no-man's-land, his leg injured.

Episode 7: The loss of a friend

Soldiers from both sides wish to keep Joey. They settle his ownership with the toss of a coin in the middle of no-man's-land...and so Joey returns to the British side.

Episode 8: The toss of a coin

Joey is reunited with Albert... but almost immediately he is struck down by a potentially fatal illness. Albert and the other soldiers will have to provide round-the-clock care.

Episode 9: Illness and recovery

The War finally comes to an end but the army decides the horses, including Joey, will be sold at auction in . What can Albert and the other soldiers do to save him?

Episode 10: Happily ever after