We are a business who have always been run with a shared goal of inspiring your pupils, children and family members to learn in creative and dynamic ways. Whilst we were officially established in 2000, our heritage in the education sector goes back significantly further. Let’s rewind 50 years...
From humble beginnings
Picture the scene, it‘s 1973 and you’re a home economics teacher in Oldham. Teaching students how to cook and sew and everything in between, but supply options are limited, and your budget isn’t exactly stretching as far as you’d like your yarn of wool to span. You picture creating multicoloured scarves with your classes, but when funds are tight, and your only option is to bulk buy red wool, your vision gets somewhat blurred.
Your frustration at the lack of resources and quality education supplies for teachers and their pupils sparks you to take action. It is time to create resources for teachers that they actually want, not what suppliers think they need.
This is where Victoria Grant was born. An educational supplies manufacturing business established by a teacher, for teachers. No, Victoria Grant wasn’t the name of the frustrated teacher, but simply the two names that she would call her next children, if she were to have them. (Quick insight: she never ended up having two children called Victoria and Grant, but wouldn’t it have been great if she did?)
Victoria Grant would later birth Springboard Supplies, but we’ll get to that shortly.
One more thing, this frustrated teacher was our grandmother, Marie.
Bringing the vision to life
The business began with Marie compiling educational craft packs designed for more inspiring and stimulating lessons. She truly listened to the needs and wants of those purchasing the materials, pioneering many of the craft categories that still exist within our collections today. Not only this, but her hand drawn illustrations on the original catalogues continue to inspire our visual identity to this day.
Marie both listened to trends and leant into the behavioural patterns of the educators around her. From traditional roots of sewing threads and yarn, to seasonal paper-based products, to craft activity packs for all types of learners.
Soon enough, the business grew to the point where the next logical step was to create a platform for a full range of products to be available in one single space. This is where Springboard Supplies was born.
The year 2000
2000 was when Springboard came to fruition. Sistering with Victoria Grant, we collated all the products manufactured into one single catalogue, allowing buyers to have a one stop shop for all their educational needs. Whilst the days of catalogues may seem like ancient history to us now, back then we must say were pretty ahead of our time.
Tomorrows future, today
From day dot, we wanted to truly understand the landscape in which we operate, and reflect the needs of the buyers in our product range. As the manufacturing space grew, so did the possibilities for innovation with our products. We wanted to demonstrate our desire to be multidimensional, to offer more than the standard range that every crafts shop can provide.
Through extensively gathering feedback from schools and expanding our supply network, we were able to not only fulfil the wishes of the teachers using our products, but to gather market insights and understand future trends.
Not only this, but our growing scale meant we could do so affordably. We believe, and always have, that a desire to educate and inspire should not be limited by the amount of money in your school or nursery’s budget. Accessibility, therefore, to us, also means affordability.
Always listening, really understanding
Our ethos rests on really listening to, and understanding everyone, in the community. Our extensive history and ever-growing passion are not only testament to our grandmother, but to the countless teachers, early years practitioners, parents, family members and beyond, who we have interacted with over the years.
It is these people who have ignited in us the need to make learning exciting and accessible for all. Just see for yourself.
