Hannah (Terri & The Time Machine, Z-arts) and Maya (MADE) partnered to co-create S.A.M. (Story Archivists of Manchester). With support from the internal team and a fantastic team of freelancers, including Story Stitchers, Shirley May and Jamie Green, they designed a Manchester Local Histories project for Year 4 and Year 5 students, successfully piloted at Webster Primary School in November last year.
The project includes five sessions aligned with UNICEF’s Rights of the Child, that use creative activities and resources to tell stories through the eyes of children from different periods in history.
- Session 1: Exploring living conditions during the cholera outbreaks in Manchester.
- Session 2: Focusing on education and pivotal Reform Acts during the Industrial Revolution.
- Session 3: Examining play and shifting attitudes toward leisure time in the mid-1900s.
- Session 4: Delving into life in Manchester during the 1960s, told through the perspective of Shirley May, a local artist who grew up in Moss Side
- Session 5: Encouraging students to reflect on their own lives, creating objects to represent their stories for the S.A.M. archive
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Inspired by the success of Terri & The Time Machine in empowering students to become “experts,” we integrated a similar concept into S.A.M.. Students became "Apprentice Story Archivists," tasked with assisting Isah, the Archivist for the S.A.M. Organisation.
At the start of the sessions, a mysterious box of objects arrives in the classroom, filled with envelopes, missions, labels, and postcards. Through a video, Isah introduces the students to their mission: to sort, identify, and catalogue a chaotic collection of historical documents and objects. Within this video, students also meet Jenny, an archivist at Manchester Library who shares tips for identifying unknown objects. Through creative activities and arts-based learning, the students delve into Manchester’s history, gradually bringing order to the muddled archive.
In the final session, students create, draw, or describe objects representing their lives today, contributing to the S.A.M. archive for future generations.
One highlight was the story map activity in Session 4, where students explored Moss Side in the 1960s. They loved mapping their own communities and comparing life “then” and “now,” noting how the area has changed over time.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to expand on this learning for future projects. For now, the S.A.M. resources—including detailed session plans aligned with curriculum objectives—are ready to roll out to schools across Manchester.
If you’re a Key Stage 2 teacher or know a school that would benefit from this resource, please get in touch with Maya at maya@z-arts.org for coordination and support with delivery.
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