Victorian Crime and Punishment: Suffolk’s Reform School

This resource uses primary sources from Kerrison Reform School to explore crime and punishment in Victorian Suffolk. The pack includes background information about the Reform School which can be taught in class, and suggested activities.

Kerrison’s Reform School opened in 1856. Boys as young as 9 were sent there by the courts in an attempt to deter them from committing further crimes.

The History activity gives your pupils the opportunity to explore the primary sources for themselves. Statistics activities give them the chance to extract and analyse data, and draw their own conclusions.

Your pupils will:
Develop historical enquiry skills using a primary source
Develop a sense of place by understanding the Reform School was part of Victorian life in Suffolk
Explore the links between crime and poverty in Victorian England
Make judgements and draw conclusions
Select key information from a source
Try reading old handwriting
Compare and contrast the lives they lead today with the lives of the boys in the Reform School
To consider how wider social conditions during the Victorian period affected the lives of individuals