Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins of the Royal Irish Regiment became a national hero in 2003 after he delivered, without preparation or notes, a speech to his troops in Iraq that was so impassioned and yet so compassionate that it was afterwards compared to Shakespeare.

Now history has come full circle and students of the Bard are to be encouraged to study this and other contemporary wartime speeches in an attempt to draw out modern parallels to key themes of Shakespeare plays, such as Henry V and Julius Caesar.

The initiative is part of a government drive to ensure that Shakespeare is fully embedded in the hearts and minds of all pupils from the age of five to the time they leave school.

A government educational package, put together with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Globe Theatre in London will be sent to all schools in England as part of the scheme. It includes a new booklet of practical teaching ideas and approaches for use in the classroom called Shakespeare For All Ages and Stages.

Children in the reception year of primary school will be introduced to some of Shakespeare's best-known plays through watching abridged film versions contained in a DVD box-set of ‘Shakespeare: The Animated Tales'.

In addition, 40,000 students aged 11 to 14 who are taking part in the government's Making Good Progress testing trials, will have the chance to see a Shakespeare performance live, thanks to a £1.5 million government grant.

The project is very personal to the schools minister Jim Knight, a would-be actor who formed a theatre company with the Oscar-winning film and stage director Sam Mendes on leaving university. He is determined that no child in England should grow up without being given the opportunity to develop an appreciation of "one of the greatest Britons ever".

It is already a statutory requirement that pupils study at least one complete play by Shakespeare at Key Stage 3 (aged 11 to 14) and at GCSE level (aged 15 to 16). But Mr Knight believes that even very young children can become gripped by Shakespeare's stories and characters.

"Many primary teachers find that imaginative and practical approaches to Shakepeare can spark children's enthusiasm and interest, the desire to study his plays further and a lifelong learning of Shakespeare's work," he said.

Although many English teachers widely acknowledge the importance of enthusing pupils about Shakespearean at a young age by allowing texts to come to life in dramatic form in the classroom, they often lack the confidence and knowhow to do this.

Mr Knight hopes that the new booklet with help provide them with practical tips to overcome this.

It suggests that five-year-olds could start by using puppets and masks to retell their own versions of Shakespearean stories. Teachers are encouraged to create a 'character chest' for a chosen Shakespeare story, removing models or pictures of the characters one at a time and asking children to predict what their personalities and actions might be like.

By the time pupils reach secondary school at age 11, the booklet suggests that they should be helped to see the way in which Shakespeare's themes are relevant to contemporary life and media.

Students reading Henry V could investigate recent speeches where leaders have justified going to war and compare this with Henry V's speech before Harfleur in Act 3. Pupils studying Julius Caesar could hold a debate on whether it is ever justifiable to overthrow the leader of a country by force.

The booklet, which can be downloaded from the website of the Department for Children, Schools and Families, has suggestions for helping students to "do Shakespeare on their feet" through workshops and performances.

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