Questions teachers ask

Is it really free?

Yes. Free for schools. No accounts, no sign-up, no ads.

Where do students’ names go?

Nowhere. The class roll builder saves in your browser’s own storage on that computer. The share link holds only soldier record numbers. Clearing the roll deletes it.

A family gave a name but nothing matches.

Try a different spelling, only the surname, or his initials. He may have served with Australian or British forces, which are not in this NZEF directory. Some records are under a different first name.

Several men have the same name. Which is ours?

Use the clues: the rough birth year (the tool shows how old he would have been when he sailed), the unit, and the town. If you are unsure, say “probably”, and open his Online Cenotaph record together.

Are the medals right?

They are worked out from his dates, the way the NZEF issued them, so they are his likely entitlement. His service record is the proof.

Where does the data come from?

Soldier records: Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph, licensed CC BY. Burials: his Cenotaph record plus council open data. Cemetery locations: LINZ Topo50 (CC BY 4.0). Facts: see the facts page.

Anzac Day 2027 is in the holidays. What now?

Run the lessons in the last weeks of Term 1 (it ends Friday 9 April) and hold your assembly before then. See the timetable.

Designed for secondary students, Years 11 to 13 (ages about 15 to 18). Real numbers, primary sources and evidence to weigh, with a focus on people and choices rather than violence. It suits NCEA History research.

Lesson	Suitability	Teacher note
1 Why NZ went to war	Light	No upsetting content. Some students may have family in recent conflicts; keep it historical.
2 The landing	Light	Talk about the plan and the land, not wounds. Present Ottoman soldiers as people defending their home.
3 Life at Gallipoli	Heavier	Mentions disease, the dead and the truce to bury them. Avoid graphic quotes. Chunuk Bair is optional: “many were killed or wounded” is enough; go further only if the class is ready.
4 Coming home and your soldier	Heavier	Death numbers, and a student may find their own relative died. Prepare them: “Some of the men we find did not come home.” Give a quiet way out. Check on students with recent loss in the family, or from refugee or war-affected backgrounds, before the lesson.
5 Anzac Day	Light	Reflective. Keep it about remembering, not celebrating war.

Handling death and injury

• Use plain, calm words: “died”, “was wounded”. No graphic detail.
• Numbers are people: link each number to families and towns, then move on to how they are remembered.
• Let students choose another soldier from the class roll if their own is too close to home.
• Tell families in the letter home what the unit covers.

Shorter option for a busy term

• Teach lessons 1, 4 and 5 only.
• Use the presentation PDF to set the scene, then go straight to the records.
• Finish with the Ode at your school assembly.

Extension: weigh the evidence

• Each lesson has an extension task in the teacher guide.
• Compare the official figures. For decades about 8,500 New Zealanders were said to have served at Gallipoli. Later research put it at 16,000 to 18,000. The Anzacs Roll Call counts 22,479. Why do the numbers differ, and which evidence is strongest?
• Explore the ship audit: check which troopships carried your soldier and how the records were matched.
• Open a soldier’s full service file at Archives New Zealand and find details the site does not show.
• Check a fact: find it on NZHistory and one other source, and say if they agree.
• Work out a scale comparison with your own local park (see the facts page).