Using archives to support Key Stages 3 and 4

What did we do?

History is not a core curriculum subject, so Jenny Moran, archive development manager at Northamptonshire Record Office, realised that encouraging secondary schools to visit the Record Office may be an uphill struggle. The Learning Links programme provided an ideal opportunity to develop a learning package for secondary schools and develop links with Magdalen College School. The project  assessed the needs of the school, provided a range of resources targeted to meet these needs and developed a relationship with the history teaching team.

Jenny and her colleague Andy North worked closely with Adam Crawte and Stuart Nelson from Magdalen College School to develop resources and deliver sessions for sixth form and Gifted and Talented groups. Stuart and Adam visited the Record Office for two days to identify documents and resources that could form the basis of lesson planning about the First and Second World Wars. They both discovered that the material relating to Northamptonshire was more relevant and effective than the standard source material they had previously been using.

This was the first time that lessons at Magdalen College School were supported by original and local documents from the Record Office. Resource packs to support the themes were produced and included hard copies of documents which could be photocopied as many times as required.

Jenny and Andy spent two days in school observing classes, running interactive sessions to show how documents could be used in a classroom setting and asking students what they liked and disliked about using original sources. A selection of original documents was taken into school to work with the Gifted and Talented students, a session that worked brilliantly and the first time many students had seen original historic documents at close quarters.

Magdalen College School’s History Department was keen to use the project to encourage students to chose history for GCSE and A level study so they maximised the opportunity to have Record Office staff in the classroom.  They involved Jenny and Andy as an integral part of the lessons through 'expert' question and answer sessions.

The Northamptonshire Record Office found the exchange with Magdalen College School extremely worthwhile in promoting its resources to schools and in developing the skills of staff.  The work will continue with further sessions, Record Office visits and topics planned.

What were the outcomes?

Magdalen College School History Department gained:

• Knowledge and understanding of the resources available at the Record Office,
• Inspiration from working with Record Office staff,
• An opportunity to review the history teaching resources,
• Targeted, local resource packs for use in the classroom with all year groups,
• Recognition from senior managers of the successes of the project with support for future development,
• Students who were interested and inspired in the project and in history generally.

Staff from Northamptonshire Record Office gained:

• Skills in developing resource packs for teachers,
• Confidence in working with young people,
• Knowledge and understanding that using original material with young people puts documents at no greater risk than when working with adults,
• Conviction of the value of working with schools,
• New skills in working with school groups.