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Mail Order
Suppliers for UK Home Educators & anyone else interested in educational supplies |
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| This is a list of mail-order suppliers used by some Home Educators. It is not intended to be a comprehensive Resource List but I hope it will have some helpful ideas for anyone who has ever wondered where to find basket-weaving equipment / concave lenses / videos about the Romans. It is accurate as far as possible; the comments are personal opinions supplied by the people recommending a firm. | |
| Whilst this list is a source of places to buy things, many large companies supply information packs etc. for free, so its worth approaching relevant places if you are doing a specific project on, say, sugar or textile production. | |
| NB. You need to be prepared for the fact that many of the companies on this list only supply to schools, educational clubs or people who call themselves private tutors or similar. Its also wise to check each catalogue to see if the printed prices include VAT - several add this on to the final invoice. | |
| I am sure that others know of suppliers not on this list and I would welcome hearing about them both for my use and for adding to this list. Please send me their address, telephone number and any other way of contacting them plus a short description of what they offer. | |
| Terri Dowty. Tel: 0181-558 8849. e-mail: OscarBGV@aol.com |
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| INDEX | ||||
| Science and Maths Stuff. | Energy, Environment, and Conservation. | |||
| Books and Story Tapes. | Software. | |||
| Art and Crafts | General and Miscellaneous | |||
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| 27 Park Road Southampton SO15 3UQ |
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Huge stock of maths books, ranging from fairly standard text books to unusual game/puzzle books. Ring for catalogue. |
QED Room 1 Stonehills House Welwyn Garden City AL8 6HN |
| Philip Harris Suppliers of scientific equipment to schools labs. The catalogue is huge, but if you ring and tell them what you are after, they will photocopy relevant pages and send them. There is a large range of prices/quality for each item. |
Philip Harris Lynn Lane Shenstone Lichfield STAFFS |
| Greater London Supplies
This is a schools supply catalogue that has science equipment and a whole load of schooly stuff besides. It can be difficult to get a catalogue unless you are a home tutor or part of a group. |
GLS Fairway 1 Mollison Avenue Enfield MIDDSX EN3 7XQ |
| Maplin Electronics Excellent catalogue for electronic bits and kits. Catalogue costs £3.95, or £1.95 for CD-Rom version. www.maplin.co.uk |
FREEPOST SMU9 PO Box 777 Rayleigh Essex SS6 8LU |
Another good electronics catalogue and geared specifically for kids, with age guides on the kits. For a catalogue, send £1.50 in stamps. www.opitec.co.uk |
Opitec Educational Materials 7 West Road Woolston Southampton SO19 9AH |
| Middlesex University
Science & Technology Education Department Has a good range of electronic spare parts and kits. |
Fiona Watts Middlesex University, E Block Bramley Road Oakwood London N14 4YZ |
| British Drugs House Will supply some chemicals to business addresses. |
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Widely available from large UK bookstores. Great fun - there are several sets for kids and many fo radults too. Their web site also has some ideas for educational activities with children. |
Large book shops |
A brilliant range of National Curriculum revision style books for Key Stages 1-3 and GSCE Level. All books are now in full colour and cost only £3 each including postage (or £2 for schools and home educators, with a postage charge for small orders). Even if you do not follow the NC they are very nice reference books. |
Coordination Goup
Publications Kirkby-in-Furness Cumbria LA17 7WZ |
| HERO Books (Home Education Reading
Opportunities). email: xdz79@dial.pipex.com
or HERO.Books@dial.pipex.com "H.E.R.O was created when the process of obtaining the books I wanted to read, usually from the USA at high cost and delay, proved too frustrating. Thanks to links made with some of the authors and publishers we can now offer books at a discount on shop prices. For instance Linda Dobson's 'The Homeschooling Book of Answers' bookshop price £15.99, HERO price £10.99 and faster. For a list of current titles please email or send an SAE. If you have any suggestions of titles we should carry why not get in touch? We are sure we could undercut retailers!" |
HERO Books 58 Portland Road Hove East Sussex BN3 5DL |
| Dillons No printed catalogue, but if you know what you want, they will track it down and send it. It is possible to browse their on-line bookstore and place CC orders at www.thebookplace.com. There are plenty of high street Dillons stores, but, if all else fails, ring. |
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| Bookpages An Internet only bookstore at www.bookpages.co.uk. Easy to browse around and fast service. |
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| Letterbox Library A large range of non-racist/sexist books with some unusual imports. £5 to join, and then you receive their newsletter regularly giving details of new stock and focussing on a different theme each time. www.education.co.uk/directory/Letterbox_Library.html |
Letterbox Library Unit 2D Leroy House 436 Essex Road London N1 3QP |
| Barefoot Books Great selection of myths and legends from all over the world. Barefoot Books Website : www.barefoot-books.com |
18 Highbury Terrace London N5 1UP |
| Red House Monthly magazine containing a wide range of books, fiction and non-fiction. Fast, efficient service and usually some special offers. |
The Red House Freepost (SCE 2665) Witney Oxford OX8 5YZ |
| Discovery Book Club Often have good prices for sets of books and for things like DK encyclopaedias. You do have to buy a minimum number of books in the first year and remember to send the card back each month. |
Discovery Book Club for
Children Guild House Farnsby Street Swindon SN99 9XX |
| Talking Bookshop Devoted solely to story tapes for children and adults. Catalogue available, although this only has a selection of their stock. Staff helpful and friendly. |
The Talking Bookshop 11 Wigmore Street London W1H 9LB |
| Cover to Cover Selection of story tapes for children. |
Cover to Cover Cassettes Ltd PO Box 112 Marlborough Wilts SN8 3UG |
Great Pattern Pads and many other toys. |
Hazel Mill
Toys Ltd. Dunkeld Road Blairgowrie Perthshire PH10 6RT |
Contact them for their catalogues which are full of fantastic books, maths ideas, models to make, Altair design pads, etc. and all reasonably priced. http://www.tarquin-books.demon.co.uk |
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Good Arts 'n Crafts supplier. |
82 George's Road Kemp Town Brighton East Sussex BN2 1EF |
| Opitec Excellent range of craft kits and supplies. See entry under Science Stuff. |
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| Atlantis Huge art warehouse well known to artists and students. Everything you could possibly want to produce a masterpiece and also a good range of art student quality art materials. Phone for mail order catalogue |
Atlantis European Ltd 146 Brick Lane London E1 6RU |
| John Jones Similar to Atlantis. Very good quality materials, though less range at the student quality end of the spectrum, but catalogue well worth a look |
John Jones Art Centre Ltd. Stroud Green Rd Finsbury Park London N4 3JG |
| Fred Aldous
A wide selection of just about every craft material going, plus kits to try things out. |
Fred Aldous PO Box 135 37 Lever Street Manchester M60 1UX |
| Specialist Crafts
Ltd The kind of catalogue that offers serious temptations to the craft-inclined. They supply to schools and home-education groups - specify secondary for the widest selection. |
Specialist Crafts Ltd. Dryad
Art & Craft Materials. PO Box 247 Leicester LE1 9QS |
Suppliers to Steiner Schools and have everything Steiner, including the square Stockmar crayons and aquarelles for the wet-on-wet painting, plus craft materials from natural fabrics. A bit pricey but the quality is wonderful. |
Mercurius PO Box 1379 Swindon SN1 3SN |
| Handweavers Studio
For everything you need to turn a sheep into a jumper. Carding, spinning and weaving equipment plus ready washed and carded fleece sold by the 500g. |
Handweavers Studio 29 Haroldstone Road London E17 7AN |
| Daisy Chains
Good catalogue for keen jewellery makers. Small but perfectly formed (and cheap). |
Daisy Chains The Twill Kerry Newtown Powys SY16 4LU |
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT
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& CONSERVATION
| Publications Despatch Friends of the Earth 56-58 Alma Street Luton LU1 2PH |
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| Centre for
Alternative Technology
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Centre for Alternative
Technology Machynlleth Powys SY20 9AZ |
| Create (Educational
Resources) Small range of computer software and educational packs on energy use and conservation. www.create.org.uk |
Create Kenley House 25 Bridgeman Terrace Wigan WN1 1TD |
| Organic Gardening
Catalogue A wide range of plants/seeds/bulbs and everything you could want in the equipment/pesticides line for an environmentally friendly garden. |
Organic Gardening Catalogue River Dene Estate Molesey Road Hersham Surrey KT12 4RG |
| World of Difference
Interesting small catalogue with gadgets and some stuff for children. World of Difference Website : www.gn.apc.org/WorldOfDifference |
World of Difference 14 Woburn Walk London WC1 0JL |
| ABLAC Good selection of CD-Roms for children. Three catalogues available - specify Primary, Secondary and Special Needs. Website: www.ablac.co.uk |
ABLAC Learning Works Ltd South Devon House Newton Abbot Devon TQ12 2BP |
| CD Imports Loads of CD-Roms with plenty for children. Standard price of £9.95 per CD with every 4th one free. Catalogue available. Website: www.cdimports.com |
Grovebury Farm Grovebury Road Leighton Buzzard LU7 8TF |
| Wise Owl Shareware Good selection of educational software and games/puzzles on disk. Shareware, which simply means if you like something you can pay a bit more to register and receive updates etc. Website: http://members.aol.com/wiseowlsw/index.html email: wiseowlsw@aol.com |
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| Dream Direct New warehouse aiming to do for computer software what Carphone Warehouse did for the mobile phone (their words). Catalogue updated every two months. |
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Supplier of primary level educational supplies. They have catalogues for Maths, Science, History, Technology and PSE / RE. There is no minimum order and you can combine orders across catalogues if you wish. http://www.tts-group.com |
TTS Ltd Monk Road Alfreton Derbyshire DE55 7RL |
| Hawkin Mail Order Old fashioned toys, curiosities, science and tin toys http://www.hawkin.co.uk/index.htm |
St. Margaret Harleston Norfolk IP20 0PJ |
| Galt Educational Large catalogue of classroom-type equipment and supplies for primary-aged children. childrenorders@galt-educational.co.uk |
Galt Educational Culvert Street Oldham Lancs OL4 2GE |
| Greater London
Supplies See entry under Science |
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| Viking Direct For all kinds of office stationery, blu-tak, scissors, files etc. Cheap, with very fast delivery |
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| Lakeland Plastics Kitchen equipment, but worth mentioning because of the numerous little gadgets to simplify cooking, range of arthritis grip knives with chunky non-slip handles (perfect for little mitts) and loads of lidded containers of all sizes and shapes. |
Lakeland Ltd Alexandra Buildings Windermere Cumbria LA23 1BQ |
| Mercurius See entry under Arts&Crafts - they also sell various kinds of Main Lesson Books and Handwriting Practice Books, recorders & pentatonic flutes. In short, everything you would find in a Steiner School. |
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| BBC Mail Order Big selection of books, tapes and videos of previous broadcasts - documentaries, wildlife programmes, costume dramas etc. www.bbcshop.com/ |
BBC Mail Order The BBC Shop 21a Arthur Street Belfast BT1 4GA |
| English Heritage
Educational Resources Catalogue of all kinds of history resources on tape, video and in books. They allow home-educators to use their free teachers loan scheme for videos which allows you to keep them for 2 weeks before returning them with reply-paid label. www.english-heritage.org.uk/dminterface/dmindex.asp |
English Heritage Education
Service 429 Oxford Street London W1R 2HD |
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| Many thanks to Terri Dowty for all her hard work compiling this list. If you have any useful additions or comments please email her at OscarBGV@aol.com |
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(last
updated on Sunday December 12, 1999)