Services for Schools and Colleges

Shropshire Archives is the archives and local studies service for the county of Shropshire and the Borough of Telford & Wrekin, holding 5 ½ miles of material relating to the historic county of Shropshire from the 12th century to the present day and beyond! We are always keen to support schools and colleges, teachers and students so see what we have on offer and let us bring Shropshire’s history to life!

Focus Packs

Ideal for primary schools doing a local study. Designed as a teachers’ resource and for classroom use with Key Stages 1 and 2 children, the packs contain copies of a wide range of primary and secondary source material for any Shropshire town or village and can be used across the National Curriculum. Primary sources include Ordnance Survey, county and field-name maps; census returns; parish registers; directories; school returns; photographs; sale particulars; newspapers.

Focus Packs can be adapted for use by secondary schools and colleges too.

Focus Packs cost £35.00 (plus postage and packing dependant upon size of pack).

You can download a Focus Pack order form from this page.

Information Packs

Smaller than the Focus Packs, these are copies of primary and secondary source material for particular topics or themes and can be tailored for KS 1 through to ‘A’ level. We can advise on the availability of source material for any topic to which you wish to give a Shropshire slant or to study in depth. Recent packs have included ‘Evacuees in Shropshire in WWII’, ‘Birmingham-Liverpool Canal at Market Drayton’, ‘The Creation and Development of Telford’.

Information Packs vary in price depending on the topic and sources available.

You can download an Information Pack order form from this page.

Class/Group Visits

These are usually 2 hour sessions on Mondays, or Thursday afternoons, giving students the chance to look at a wide range of original archive documents as well as microfiche sources, books, maps, CD ROMs etc. Visits can be arranged to suit classes from KS2 through to ‘A’ level students and beyond. Sessions cost £40 for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin LEA schools; £50 for independent/out of county schools.

And for primary schools who would find it difficult to bring a class to Shropshire Archives, we can come to you! Please contact us for further details.

All primary school classes have a mid-session break with a drink provided. There is a coffee room with a drinks machine but we cannot provide a dining area.

Personal Development Days/Staff Visits

If your staff would like to find out what is in Shropshire Archives and how they can use our sources and services, we can arrange half or full day sessions to suit your needs.

Teachers’ Courses

We run training courses at Shropshire Archives during the school year, often in conjunction with the Shropshire Education Business Partnership. Please look out for our course publicity and take the opportunity to visit us.

Staff at Shropshire Archives who can help you

Kerry Dickins is the Librarian at Shropshire Archives with responsibility for education. If you would like to know more about the Archives and the services we can provide for you, please contact Kerry by phone on (01743) 255350 or e-mail archives@shropshire.gov.uk

Go on-line to discover Shropshire Routes to Roots

Shropshire County Library Service teamed up with its County Council partners to put together a website looking at aspects of Shropshire's history: ranging from Victorian Crime and Detection, to World Wars One and Two. Digitising aspects of the local history collections held at Shropshire Archives and Oswestry Library, the Shropshire Routes to Roots team has produced on-line history resources that can be used by teachers in their lesson preparation, in the classroom or as printable sources. Discover more by visiting their website - a link has been included on this page.

Telford Culture Zone

Telford Culture Zone is a three year project where staff from Shropshire Archives are working in a group of Telford schools alongside partners from five other cultural organisations: CBSO (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra), Birmingham Rep, DanceXchange, Telford Libraries and Ironbridge Gorge Museum. Find out more on our projects and partners' page or visit the Culture Zone website using the link on this page.