This resource was written by Rachel Brown, who teaches at the Woodroffe School in Dorset. It was developed to introduce Key Stage 3 students to the Paston family, to consider what we can learn from their letters about social life at the end of the Middle Ages and to enable students to see that social life did change across the Middle Ages. 

The resource contains activities based around three questions, each of which could be used as an individual lesson or adapted accordingly.

1. How did the Paston family rise from being farmworkers to knights?
2. What can we learn from the Paston family’s letters?
3. How much had life changed by the end of the fifteenth century?

Modernised versions of the letters and associatied activities are included within the teacher notes. A family tree, map and other material is provided on the PowerPoint presentation.