conference speakers
Pie Corbett
Pie Corbett is a leading expert on Talk for Writing and the inspiration behind the Story Museum’s storytelling schools programme. Pie has written over 200 books for children and teachers and is well known for promoting and inspiring creative approaches in the classroom.
Favourite story: The Hobbit
Adam Guillain
Adam is a Story Museum storyteller, trainer and former primary teacher. He is particularly fond of Russian and West African stories and his performances include songs and music on the guitar or piano. His books for children include the popular Bella Ballistica series.
Favourite story: Matilda
Kaye Haywood
Kaye is the deputy head teacher of Trevithick Primary School and the lead teacher for the Talk for Writing pilot. Kaye trains other teachers in Talk for Writing and Trevithick Primary School has been selected as a Department for Education ‘Writing School’.
Favourite story: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Cathie Mascarenhas and Angela Humphreys
Cathie Mascarenhas is the head of the Harbour Centre, a specialist centre for key stage 2 children with learning difficulties (see panel top right). Angela Humphreys is the senior teacher in the centre and storytelling is now part of her daily practice.
A recent LEA monitoring visit judged the Harbour Centre provision to be outstanding in all areas, and was particularly impressed with their storytelling. Cathie and Angela have contributed to a number of SEN conferences and give support to other specialist provisions.
Favourite story: The Little Red Hen. It was their first oral storytelling project.
Sean Powers
Sean is the head teacher of Trevithick Primary School, Cornwall. He has been working with Pie Corbett since 2000. Trevithick school serves a local community which has high levels of deprivation and under Sean’s leadership SAT’s results have improved from 40%-90% from 2004-2010 (see panel right).
Favourite story: Swallows and Amazons
Chris Smith PhD
Chris is the founding director of the Story Museum’s storytelling schools programme. He is storyteller, musician and author. Before becoming a storyteller, Chris spent 15 years running community projects in the Middle East, where he collected many of his stories.
Favourite Story: Hephaestus, the first myth I ever loved
Nanette Stormont
Nanette is english co-ordinator at Pegasus Primary School. She was first inspired to teach while working in schools in India. After studying psychology at Nottingham University she moved to Oxford to train as a teacher. Storytelling and talk for writing have had a massive impact on the language skills and writing of the children in her class.
Favourite story: Matilda
Taffy Thomas MBE
Taffy Thomas is the first Laureate for Storytelling, a post he will hold for two years until January 2012. He fronted and performed in the popular touring unit, the Fabulous Salami Brothers, until a stroke at the age of 36 sidelined him. He turned back to story telling as self-imposed speech therapy. In the 2001 New Year Honours List he was awarded the MBE for services to storytelling. Taffy has a repertoire of more than 300 stories, tales and elaborate lies collected mainly from traditional oral sources.
Favourite story: The Hunchback and the Swan. This is Taffy’s favourite love story and he will be telling it on the day – it's Valentine's Day.
Beth Wooldridge
Beth is a primary school teacher. She grew up in Kenya and South Africa and authored the Rough Guide to India and South India before becoming a teacher.
Beth says, “Storytelling has made learning so magical, we have been on such exciting journeys of the imagination through our stories and only just made it back again! I have had to be a learner again, which has really helped me understand my pupils.”
Favourite story: Nyapoco! (a tale from Africa)
How storytelling has benefited the Harbour Centre
"We were inspired by Pie Corbett at a conference in Wales four years ago and have never looked back! Inclusive storytelling develops the communication of our SEN children. It supports our multi-sensory approach to teaching and learning and can be used with children with complex needs, allowing them to access the world of stories."
Cathie Mascarenhas, head (below left)
How stories have changed our practice at Trevithick School
"We have developed a powerful and effective approach to teaching writing through storytelling that is embedded across the school and has not only accelerated pupil progress and raised standards, but also changed our children’s perception of themselves as writers. All classrooms have storytelling areas with storytelling chairs. Each blocked unit starts with a storytelling week when children are immersed in the story using talk and drama. Story maps are used as a tool to teach the text and writing journals are used actively throughout the writing process as a way of storing and retrieving ideas. Children are taught to ‘read as writers’ boxing the text into its’ key elements, which is then used as a tool for innovation. Teachers model the writing process during shared writing everyday in week 2 & 3 of the block innovating and inventing."
Sean Powers, head (see left)
