LEARN Workshops
Northumberland Archives offers a range of high quality curriculum based workshops that have been researched and prepared by a professional archivist and qualified educator. Many of our workshops are cross-curricular and can be adapted to be location specific. We also offer bespoke workshops.
Our workshops are designed to enrich subject knowledge using primary sources, embed local history into the classroom, and enhance cultural capital. For enquiries and bookings please contact learnarchive@northumberland.gov.uk
Workshops are charged at:
Half day session – £105 ex-VAT
Full day session – £210 ex-VAT
Bespoke workshop – £315/day ex-VAT including development time.
What is an archive?
Age group: All ages
Subject areas: History, English, Languages
Topics: Using primary sources, local history, palaeography, changes to language over time, careers
Explore what an archive is by comparing them with libraries and museums. Examine the equipment that an archivist uses every day. Look at the oldest document held at Northumberland Archives and have a go at reading old handwriting.
To the Future
Age group: Years 4 – 6
Subject areas: History, Design Technology, Computing, English, STEM
Topics: Towns then & now, futurscaping, 3D design
Duration: This workshop can be delivered as a full project of 6 full-day sessions or as a condensed mini-project over 3 full-day sessions.
What will your town be like in 100 years’ time? Learn about the history of your area using archival documents and by taking part in a heritage walk. Consider future scenarios in a What If…? activity. Learn how to 3D design using Tinkercad. Use all of these skills to 3D design your version of the future!
Cardboard Cities
Age group: All age groups
Subject areas: History, Geography, Design Technology, Art & Design, STEM
Topics: Settlements, town planning, 3D design, modelling, careers
Become an architect, structural engineer, and town planner by using Makedo kits to create your own town. Combine this with looking at archival documents and photographs to learn more about the history and geography of the location you are studying.
Oral History
Age groups: Years 3 – 6
Subject areas: History, English, Careers
Topics: Northumberland Archives holds many oral histories – get in touch to discuss how we can use oral histories to enhance your topic.
Listen to oral histories on your chosen topic, such as evacuees; the bombing of Northumberland during World War I; mining and industry.
Learn how to become an oral historian from The Worst Oral Historian in the World. Test out your new skills on your classmates.
Crime & Punishment: Witchcraft
Age group: Years 5 – 6
Subject areas: History, Languages
Topics: Crime & punishment, witchcraft in the north east, using primary sources
Learn skills used by historians and archivists to make sense of documents. Take a deep dive into a court record from the 1600s relating to an accusation of witchcraft.
What is the Miners’ Picnic?
Age group: Years 1 – 4
Subject areas: History, Music, Art & Design, Politics
Topics: Mining, industry, culture, miners’ banners
Add depth to your mining and industry topic by doing a local study of Northumberland’s mining culture. Examine evidence from the archives to learn about what the Northumberland Miners’ Picnic was and what it involved.
Animating Hadrian’s Wall
Age group: Years 2 – 5
Subject areas: History, Art & Design Technology, Computing
Topics: The Romans, Hadrian’s Wall, animation, Roman Northumberland, photography
Use archival documents and photographs to learn about what Hadrian’s Wall was like in the past. Test your knowledge with the Hadrian’s Wall quiz, and create your own motion stop animations.
Port of Blyth: In Living Memory
Age group: Years 4 – 6
Subject areas: History, English
Topics: Blyth, industry, oral histories, speaking & listening, careers
Listen to oral histories recounting the memories of Blyth residents to understand how the port and town have changed in the recent past. This workshop includes a visit from The Worst Oral Historian in the World to train students to become oral historians and start their own interviews.
Port of Blyth: Harbour Commissioners
Age group: Years 3 – 4
Subject areas: History
Topics: Blyth, industry, shipping, trade, careers, architecture
Blyth Harbour Commissioners’ building – what is it and who used it? Use archival material to look at the Harbour Commissioners and the building that they constructed in Blyth.
The alternative Grace Darling
Age group: Years 3 – 6
Subject areas: History, English
Topics: North East heroes & heroines, Grace Darling, lifeboats, shipwrecks, dangers of the sea, Victorians
Uncover the life and heroism of Margaret Armstrong of Cresswell, 1st woman in Britain to receive an RNLI presentation, who undertook perilous journey in 1876 from Cresswell to Newbiggin to get rocket apparatus launched to save those on Swedish steamer, ‘Gustaf’.
Life in the “Big House”
Age group: Years 3 – 4
Subject areas: History, Art & Design, Cookery, English, Language
Topics: Seaton Delaval Hall, food in the past, palaeography, 3D modelling
Who ran stately homes in the past? What was served to guests? Dive into the menu from Seaton Delaval Hall to have a try at reading old handwriting. Take a look at recipes created by Hannah Glasse to find out about food in the past. Finish by designing a menu or modelling a Big Pie.
How much did thing cost in the past?
Age group: Years 4 – 6
Subject areas: History, Maths
Topics: Currency, pre-decimal money, timestables, Seaton Delaval Hall, food in the past
Students examine documents from Seaton Delaval Hall to look at the costs for food for a ball, use online tools to work out modern equivalents, and get to grips with pre-decimal money.
Flooding & Poetry
Age group: Years 4 – 6
Subject areas: English, History, Geography
Topics: Flooding, poetry, climate change, natural disasters
Duration: This workshop is delivered over 3 full-day sessions.
Look at documents and photographs of past floods in Northumberland. Work with a poet to compose your own poetic response to flooding. Additional charges may apply for poet hire.
Early Years: At the Seaside
Age group: Pre-school – Year 2
Subject areas: History, Communication & Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, Expressive Art & Design, Physical Development
Topics: Then & now, the seaside, photography
Comparing Northumberland’s seaside in the past and present using photographs from the archives.