General Information

We offer a range of education experiences and are happy to adapt them to specific requirements where we can – just talk to us and we will see what we can do! The  workshops match current curriculum and engage your class in a variety of hands on workshops and activities. Our workshop staff deliver workshops to all abilities including special needs and home learning groups. Everyone is welcome. We are Learning Outside the Classroom accredited. Everyone can learn something from a visit to Frogmore Paper Mill.  Contact education@frogmorepapermill.org.uk

I just wanted to thank you straight away for your impressive and engaging talk this afternoon. You paced your talk and demonstration so well. We all loved your bit of paper making ‘magic,’ which you kindly did twice.

The class were enthused to join you on the journey of paper through time and find out about paper making in Hertfordshire. Thank you also for your focus on recycling which is something the children know is very important.

I am sure we will all think of paper in a different way from now, having gained an insight into paper making and its history. I look forward to visiting Frogmore Mill in the future and would have no hesitation in recommending your outreach session.

St. Michael’s CE VA , Primary School
I have literally just come up for air after teaching this afternoon and then trying to tell as many people as I could get to listen to say how fantastic the trip was today! I have already written the article for our school newsletter too!
Presdales School, Secondary School
I can’t thank you all enough for the hard work, time and effort you all put in yesterday.  The buzz around rooms and at the end of the day was fantastic – more than I was hoping for!  Students and staff alike were full of ideas and I know one school – not mine… – has already seen the head about things they want to do which is great! –
Verulam School, Secondary School

At the end of the school year the children are asked which trip was their favourite. Frogmore wins hands down – even over the zoo!

Wroxham School, Primary School

“The tour was fascinating, and the sessions were interesting and enjoyable. The children and their parents thoroughly enjoyed the day, and we hope to be able to return in the future.”

South Bucks Jewish School , Community School
As we left today Gemma said to me,

‘I wish we could go back in time and do it all over again’. This was unprovoked!!

Wroxham School, Primary School

Just wanted to say thank you for today.  The whole class haven’t stopped talking about making paper and big machines since they got back on the bus.  Really appreciated all the time that you spent with them.

Collett School, Special School

Costs

Half Day Whole Day
£6.50 per student £8.50
Paper making, Mill tour, plus one workshop Paper making, Mill tour, plus two workshop
Minimum 3 staff Minimum 4 staff

Group Size

We accept groups of 10 to 60 students, under normal circumstances, however we are not yet at full capacity since the devastating fire of 2022. It is the intention to be inviting our school groups back in during 2026, when we will be able to offer our half day and full day sessions as before. If you have a small group such as an Eco group contact us to discuss options.

Once fully open, anyone with a single or double class can be accommodated.  With groups of more than 15, we will ask you to sub-divide you students for the workshops, to make efficient use of time and ensure all remain fully engaged. All our workshops are very hands-on and active, while considering health and safety within am industrial setting.

Travel, Coaches and Arrival

Frogmore Paper Mill has ample coach parking on site. This is accessed from Frogmore Road, HP3 9RW. The gates are on you immediate right as you turn in to Frogmore Road, so be ready! If you can call us 5 minutes prior to arrival, we can be there with the gates open.  There is a handy turning just opposite our gates which can help coaches arriving and departing enormously.

Please do not attempt to go down Fourdrinier Way as it is residential with parked cars on either side.

For any additional cars, there is also a pay and display car park off Durrants Hill Road. This has a height restriction so in unsuitable for minibuses.

Timing

Typically groups arrive at 9.30 or 10 am depending on distance from our venue. On occasion we can do later starts.

Typically the visit begins with a presentation to provide overview for everything following after.  This last approximately 20-30mins. Workshops are 30-40 minutes, therefore a half day visit lasts 2.5 hours, after which groups may eat packed lunches on site.  We include a short break mid-morning.  For larger groups, the morning will run slightly later and at least one workshop will be in the afternoon, finishing at around 2.30pm. Please advise us of your departure time when booking.

We endeavour to keep to time, but sometimes this can slip. If the machine is not in action when we near the machine house, we may loop back to ensure no-one misses the action. Please note that we operate elderly machinery and very rarely they may not be in use for maintenance work. This is industry in action so groups must ensure they remain together as instructed and do not impeded production. Your group must remain with the staff and trained volunteers assigned at all times.

Health And Safety

Teachers are invited to undertake a Health and Safety pre-visit by prior arrangement. Risk assessments are available for all activities and can be downloaded from this website.  Each risk assessment can be found with its workshop description below.

Frogmore Paper Mill is a working industrial site and health and safety guidance will given throughout your sessions, at the beginning and at the start of each workshop.  We request that these instructions are heeded. Groups must always have at least one school staff member with them and tour groups must stay together. There can be no breaking off for toilet trips!

Please make sure all members are suitably dressed. The mill can be cold so coats are handy to slip on as required. You will be asked to place all lunch and snack bags on a trolley provided, but coat remain on the back of the chairs for ease.  Please also wear sensible footwear.

Overview

Typically the session begins with a short presentation, which sets the scene for all that the group will see and do. Larger groups will then be divided into smaller sub-groups to undertake papermaking, the mill tour and third/fourth workshops. All groups do papermaking and the mill tour – its what we are about.

A plan of your day will be sent prior to arrival so that teachers are able to consider how they wish to divide their students up. This plan will be created based upon the information given during booking. It responds to the requirements of the optional workshops you choose for your class, any extra support required and numbers of participants.

We do understand that sometimes travel does not go to plan and in such instances we are very good at adapting!

Core Workshops

The papermaking workshop picks up on the basic facts delivered during whole group presentation, which includes a demonstration of making paper by hand. More historical and scientific information is delivered and students are encouraged to ask questions. Each group member is invited to take it in turns to make a sheet of paper, staff included if they wish. This hand-on experience gives a real sense of the paper formation process. Paper is speed dried for groups to take back to school on departure.

This is a fact filled but a 90% hands-on workshop with plenty of opportunity to ask questions. To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please click here:
RA OUTREACH Handmade Papermaking 2025-26

The tour builds on the experience of making paper by hand and visitors will see a direct correlation to the machine made process. The tour enables students to experience the sights, sounds and smells of a industrially active environment which is rarely offered. Tours are led by our staff or trained volunteers, many from the paper and printing industries. All are enthusiastic and willing to answer questions. Groups must remain together and heed health and safety guidance given by the group leader. tour guides are familiar with emergency exits and procedure. Sometimes a tour guide in training will accompany the group but any such persons will be introduced at the start of the session.

Tour groups will be kept to between 10 and 15 persons.

Tours will include further history and science of paper production and can have specific emphasis to fit the students area of study. Tour guides are chosen to match curriculum need.the tour includes both static and working paper machines and our papermakers go out of their way to ensure they are making when visitors pass through.  Very rarely this is not possible due to production schedules or maintenance.

Those on tour are free to ask questions.

To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please RA Mill Tour 2025-6

Optional workshops

Paper weaving is an ancient human craft with many applications, an aspect we encourage the young people of the group to think about. We also liken weaving to the process of paper formation. Each child will create their own piece of weaving using paper and will be able to appreciate the variation that can be achieved and the usefulness of this simple age old technique.

This is the simplest workshop aimed at our youngest visitors and requires some dexterity. It may also be useful to special needs groups.

To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please click here RA Paper Activities 2025-26

Suitable for Key Stages 1 and 2 Materials. This workshop builds on the knowledge of both hand papermaking and the mill tour. It is useful for those looking at changing materials,  the variety of form that paper products can take and respective qualities such as strength and surface. They will never look at paper in the same way again!

Groups work in small teams and using digital microscopes, examine a variety of commonly used paper fibres to understand their individual qualities, then how these differences may be utilised by papermakers, to form different paper stocks. The session ends with a slide show of more highly magnified fibre images and examples their typical application.

The workshop is accompanied by individual worksheets on which students draw the fibres, describe their attributes and complete the questions. These sheets may be taken back to school for reference or discussion in the classroom.

To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please click here RA Science 2025-6 docx

The Victorian Working Life workshop is ideal for Key Stages 2 and 3. It requires a bit more listening than the other workshops but the children are engaged through comparison to their own lives. This usually creates an engaging discussion, a few giggles, real horror and a genuine appreciation of modern schooling.  The session is based on a Victorian study of working conditions in the paper mills of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Kent in 1841.

The session is based on an 1841 government report into working conditions in the mills. We compare working ages, hours of work, holidays, wages and the mill jobs of the boys and girls to the lives of the children there. This tends to be an eye-opener for most of the audience as children could work in the mills from the age of 10.

There is an accompanying worksheet which students may take away with them. It recounts some of the basic points and allows for their own note-taking and drawing. It can be used for further discussion in schools and if teachers would like a copy of the staff notes, please just let us know.

To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please click here RA History 2025-26

Flat white stuff that is green all over! Papermaking is one of the most inherently sustainable industries in Europe and yet many still see it as the ‘baddie’ that cuts down endless trees and uses immense amounts of water.

This workshop intends to reveal the true paper industry facts; an industry supported by well-known environmentalist and author Jonathon Porritt, a regular face on our television screens in the 1970s representing the Friends of the Earth charity.

This workshop takes up to date data and explains it in a clear practical way for children to understand. We always encourage questions and will address common criticisms of the papermaking industry and dispel the myths. We positively encourage the group to air their concerns and discuss the future of paper as a sustainable material.

There is a teachers fact sheet available for use back in the classroom.

To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please click here: RA Sustainable Paper 2025-26 docx

Frogmore Paper Mill sits on the River Gade which connects to the Grand Union Canal. Either via a very short 2 minute walk to Lock 65, or on the Bryan Donkin boat, this workshop looks at the canals historically, as an important method of transport and how they function. The advent of the canals are important to the paper story.

This workshop will commence with its own health and safety guidance. Please ensure all group members are wearing practical footwear and have outside clothing.

Please make sure children are suitably dressed and consider the weather when booking.

To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please click here: RA Canal Walk with boat use 2025-26

Paper is a significant industry in Hertfordshire so if you are within county, or just over the Bucks border this could be relevant. The first paper mill in this country was in Hertfordshire. Three hundred years later the mill at Frogmore and shortly after at Apsley began the revolutionary practice of mechanised paper. The many inventions changed communication and education the world over. It is a story based in the Gade Valley. This workshop uses many photographs from our archive and illustrations to convey how it occurred.

Delivery is as customised as it can be by adapting content to specific geographic areas as much as possible. It can take a very close look or a broader countywide look. The session can also focus on the big inventor of the Gade Valley, our own Isambard Kingdom Brunel, in the form of John Dickinson, Victorian Industrialist and inventor.

Paired with a papermaking session it can create a first-hand experience of how the slow hand process, was copied and speeded up.

To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please click here: RA History 2025-26

This workshop can be adapted for just about anyone. We deliver letterpress to KS2, to adults and to specialists. The session is always delivered by someone who has actually used metal type professionally, usually by ex compositors and printers. This workshop is never dry but related to general history, its relationship to paper, local renown, and modern printing up to present day.

Staff refer to its impact on mass communication and how many of our modern terms in general language and on computers can be traced back to Gutenberg’s invention. The workshop is hands-on and each student will get a chance to have a go at printing with one of our Adana printing presses.

To download the Risk Assessment for this workshop, please click here: RA Letterpress 2025- 26

This is a new session which will be available very soon.

This session is designed to enable art and D&T students more time to focus on and experiment with papermaking as a creative medium. The booking would include a brief overview of papermaking, a mill tour and making paper by hand only.  The intention is to make bigger sheets of paper and explore the craft skills of papermaking using a larger vat. Students will use a professional mould and deckle to make A4 sheets of paper. They will be able to bring their own inclusions (within workable parameters), experiment with surface texture and layering.

Sheets made may need to remain here for drying and can be collected or posted, if not suitable for fast drying.

To download the Risk Assessment for Papermaking please click here: RA Handmade Papermaking 2025-26

Paper and Board – we can cover this part of your curriculum with ease. Students can absorb unit content by doing and seeing in an industrial setting. We are very informative and sessions are very hands on.

A standard visit lasts for 2.5 hours, which includes an introductory presentation, followed by extended papermaking and an extended mill tour. This option allows for additional detail and depth, plus workshops in bookbinding and letterpress delivered by specialists.  Both bookbinding and letterpress have hands on elements and verbal information.

To download the Risk Assessment for Bookbinding, please click here: RA Bookbinding2025-6

To download the Risk Assessment for Printing, please click here: RA Letterpress 2025- 26

We can deliver full (10am-3pm) Enterprise Days to give a ‘real life’ experience of the workplace with a bit of fun thrown in for groups of 50-60. Working in groups, teams are given individual job roles within ‘their company’ to brainstorm, produce, market, cost and present paper based products.

Teams hit a few typical hindrances along the way, with staff holidays, health and safety issues and indecisive client whims, all of which add an edge and allow students to experience more of the mill, while adding a touch of reality. Enterprise Days are offered at £18 +VAT per student.

To download the Risk Assessments for this workshop, please click here: RA Paper Activities 2025-26 and here: RA Canal Walk with boat use 2025-26

Other Learning Requirements

Home learners are warmly welcomed. Such groups often attend with more adult helpers and may have slightly different needs. It’s important to talk to us.

As with all groups, carers supporting individual students will not be charged for their visit, however where home learning groups bring many family members above our usual child: adult ratios, we will charge for those extra adults and siblings over 5 years old at the normal guided tour price. We prefer no more adults than a school would bring, as too many adults hinders the young people’s engagement and alters the group dynamic.  We prefer that additional adults remain in the cafe.

All groups can have special requirements and we wish to tailor our delivery to provide a great experience for all. Carers supporting individual students will not be charged for their visit and we make groups smaller as required.

The renovated visitor space is on a single level with a ramp at the entrance. Access to the working areas of the museum are on ground level also.

Frogmore Paper Mill aims to be as accessible as possible in an industrial environment, with ease of access, inclusivity and adjusting to your needs. Papermaking is a sensory experience. We can then discuss sound levels as the machine house is a noisy place where some students may wish to use the earplugs provided or bring their own ear protectors.  Do talk to us about your needs when booking.

We welcome your guidance on level of input and workshop choices. Above all we wish everyone to have a happy and rewarding experience here at Frogmore Paper Mill.

Please call 01442 234600 or email education@frogmorepapermill.org.uk for further details.

A Frogmore Paper Mill Teacher’s Pack, can help you with your delivery.

The Paper Science Packs  for Key Stage 1 and 2- If you cannot get to us, or even if you can, these packs complement what we do on a visit. The packs are curriculum linked and written by experts from Frogmore Paper Mill and the paper industry.

Both consist of illustrated A4 cards, which contain, teacher notes to swot up, activities to do in class, worksheets to copy and question sheets to test learning. In addition, there is a memory stick containing 3 short films – how paper can be made in school, how a paper machine works, and finally, how the process of handmade paper was developed into a mechanised process – plus a Powerpoint, to accompany what your session.

Your class will quickly understand how paper is made, what it is made from, how important it is and why our mill was the first in the world to have a mechanised paper machine. We even include a mould and deckle so you can make paper in school. And we are not adverse to an email asking for advice. Everything comes in a card box for easy storage, so you get a lot for your money. The kit costs £75 +VAT which as a teacher remarked is only £2.50 per chid for a class of 30, and you should be able to use it for years. Any questions, please do email: education@frogmorepapermill.org.uk

Local Studies Teacher’s Pack for Primary Schools. How to get your class out and learning about the local area and seeing the paper history on their doorsteps. The packs focusses on Hertfordshire and the Mills of The Gade Valley but the principles could be applied on other parts of the country but many of the activities explore broader history research practice.

Please select an option *

School Brochure

Click here for a printable PDF  of the School Brochure

School Visit Enquiry Form

Please fill out our School Visit Enquiry Form here.

Free resources

Walks

If your school is based in Dacorum, especially Apsley or Nash Mills, the walking maps here may help you with Local Studies delivery.  Download them, print them and feel free to use them.

Apsley Walk

Download the map PDF

Nash Mill Walk

Download the map PDF

Paper Activities

Free downloadable activities for anyone to use. Instructions on how to make paper at home or in school. Or find out how to make a traditional papermaker’s hat which papermakers would make at the start of each day to keep the pulp from their hair – you will need an A2 sized piece of paper if you wish to wear it!

Papermakers Hat

Download how to make your hat PDF

Make your own paper

Download how to make your own paper PDF