ideas that work
Every school embraces story in its own way. Here are some ideas that teachers in our partner schools tell us have worked well for them.
a whole school story plan
At SS Mary and John School, East Oxford, each class learns to tell a story every mini-term to introduce the next curriculum topic. This means that each teacher only needs to learn and retell 6 stories a year - one per mini-term. The school aims for every 
child to have learned 36 stories before they leave. The Story Museum and the school's literacy co-ordinator, Beth Wooldridge, have created a plan for years 1 to 6 that matches a story to each curriculum topic.
At Rose Hill Primary School, an 'action plan' has been developed as part of its commitment to becoming a storytelling school. The school has a dedicated storytelling co-ordinator whose aims include:
- ensuring every child in years 1-6 learns to tell a story that relates to their current topic (see sample plan)
- developing storytelling in the Foundation Stage
- standardising the actions that teachers use to help children learn different connective words (then, who, and, finally etc)
- giving children CDs and story maps to take home
- working with the Story Museum to 'problem solve' issues as they arise.
getting everyone's attention
In 2008 Pegasus School in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, launched its whole school story programme by spending two weeks exploring Little Red Riding Hood through storytelling, creative writing, reading, drama and art. During one assembly the deputy head dressed
up as a wolf rode through the hall on a bicycle, chased by a teacher waving an axe. The woodcutter visited the classrooms and the children left letters for the wolf. Year 6 children told the story to the Year 2s which helped with bonding. The youngest children went on a wolf hunt and the Key Stage 2 children had a debate on whether or not the wolf was bad.
In 2009 the theme was The King and the Cockerel, with a storytelling trail around the school. Each class made a display board telling one stage of the story. 2010 began with an alien landing in the playground ...
props and objects
- One school focussed
on Jack and the Beanstalk and hid a Jack puppet around the school for the children to find. - At another school teachers created costumes and magical story landscapes so children could enact favourites like The Princess and the Pea in their break times.
- Shiplake School, Henley-on-Thames, made a Tree of Life sculpture with all the characters of the story represented in the branches.
- Isis School, Oxford, created a multi-sensory exhibition of the Egyptian tale of Isis and Osiris.
- Sibford Gower Primary School read Ted Hughes' The Iron Man and then worked in their different subject lessons to create an exhibition of the story for other pupils and parents to visit.
mapping and stepping
Drawing a simple 'map' of a 
story helps children to learn and retell it. Stepping is a 'whole body' method of learning a story - taking a step for each episode of a story as you tell it out loud. Here is a simple guide to mapping and stepping.
- Both methods work well for helping children generate and plan new stories for creative writing. Teachers find they can be applied to both fiction and non-fiction, from Twelfth Night to The Tudors.
- One teacher energised his class by arranging everyone into a conga and stepping in unison around the classroom as they said and sang their story together.
telling from books
Our Lady's Primary School, Cowley found that once the children are confident with storymapping and retelling, the teacher can read a suitable story straight from a book rather than have to learn it first themselves. The children then map and step the story and retell it as they would an oral story. This can save time for the teacher and “permits” the children to retell tales they’ve read as well as encouraging them to read in order to retell.
encouraging a less confident teacher
Having a confident storytelling teacher tell a story in a more nervous teachers' class can be a good way to show them how simply it can be done and that the class will sit still and listen.
storytelling club
SS Mary and John's Primary School ran a storytelling club for their Year 4 and 5 children who met once lunchtime a week for nearly a year, telling and retelling stories in various ways, facilitated by a class teacher. They also performed to the whole school. These children were all on the special needs register and this greatly benefited their language development and confidence.
involving parents
- Some schools are setting storytelling homework. The children learn a story in class and then are asked to retell that story to their parents with the help of a story map. At SS Mary and John's Primary School the parents were asked to send back a note about how the found that
homework. The replies was enthusiastic and the school said that it had never had such a high response rate. The next step will be for the parents to tell stories to their children. - Orchard Meadow Primary School, Blackbird Leys, ran a series of one-hour storytelling workshops for the parents and carers of some of its children. These took place just before school pick-up time. The adults learned stories and story games to try out at home with their children.
- Parents can also be inspired by storytelling at special events like fetes and the Christmas fair.
Please email us if you'd like to add an approach that has worked well in your school.
talk to write
See clips of Story Museum storytellers in action as they involve primary schoolchildren in storytelling.
The Story Museum has devised storytelling hopscotch patches as a way of helping KS1 and KS2 pupils' writing skills. See this in action at an Oxford primary school. Link to video clip.
As part of its Talk to Write programme, Pegasus primary school in Oxford focuses on verbalising before writing for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, in partnership with the Story Museum. Story Museum storyteller Chris Smith engages children in storytelling, story mapping and verbalising before they sit down and write. Link to video clip.
A mixed Year Five class from Pegasus School, East Oxford, and partner school, The Dragon, listen to a storyteller before they begin with the activities. Pupils are paired up and draw story maps, illustrating the key points in the narrative. They then step through parts of the story, physically, as well as retell it. Link to video clip.
