What Happens Next?
It’s National Story Telling Week and it seems like an opportune time to reflect on some of the activity happening in one of our Creative Freedom schools - St Luke’s Academy in Endon. The school have been working with Drama Practitioner Rebecca Bell devising a teacher CPD focussed Narrative Immersion approach to developing Oracy in Early Years. The Narrative Immersion approach fosters a positive and supportive environment for all class members to engage and contribute to the development of a story.
Rebecca Bell immersed in the Narrative Immersion process.
(image credit: Rebecca Bell).
We sat with Rebecca to discuss the aims of the project in more detail and she explained:
“We are looking at how the forms and structures of drama and elements of theatre arts, can ‘awaken’ evocative stories and ignite the curiosity, active engagement and joy of children. We are empowering teachers and children to create imagined worlds in the classroom, in which they operate largely in-role to face challenges and solve critical problems, increasing confidence and meeting learning targets.
These ‘Narrative Immersions’, are designed to focus on the English curriculum outcomes, working closely with teaching staff to meet learning targets whilst also promoting a more humanised approach to teaching and learning. The approach uses stories to ‘affect’ learners and engage them in human contexts that examine universal themes and concepts and the human condition. For example, stories about invasion, displacement, invention. Additionally, we incorporate development of ‘essential skills for life’; nurturing skills around expressing emotion, communication and develop as imaginative, creative learners that value challenge, community, cohesion, collaboration and connectedness in their learning.”
We also spoke to the Headteacher at St Lukes, Mrs Danylyk, about the impact of the project and working in partnership with Rebecca:
“The whole school is buzzing! The children are always excited when Rebecca is coming in, the staff are up for it, each CPD session sees them generating more and more questions. They’re challenging the process and their own teaching practice, they’re thinking creatively about how they can weave this into their classrooms and how it can impact things like writing skills. We’re seeing a big impact on the children and their ability to focus and listening skills. The process is inclusive and every one of them is taking part enthusiastically. We’re also seeing a big impact on our young people with SEND in particular confidence and speaking.”
Our Programme Director, Iain, recently spent an afternoon observing Rebecca and several different classes exploring the same story from different angles before combining their sections into one big story for the rest of the school to experience.
“As well it being a great privilege to get out from the PiCL office and see real life activity happening in schools it absolutely underlines (with a big, pink fancy marker pen) how fundamentally important communication and language development is in everything we do. To be able to sit and watch an artist at the top of their game so committed to this activity is genuinely inspiring. It made me reflect and consider just how magical stories and storytelling can be; and what are the elements of story telling that make it so entrancing?”
What’s in a story?
Here’s a non exhaustive list Iain scribbled down whilst at St Lukes:
Beginnings… a horizon… foreboding… A story circle - a threshold. Laughter. Synonyms. “What if?” Problem solving. The power of three. Repetition. Ladders. Fences. Doors. Boundaries. Clues. Signs. Symbols. Metaphors. Costumes. Peril. Quests. Explanations. Warnings. Spice. Loss. Sorrow. Courage. Honour. Love. Help. Compassion. Delight. Trickery. Disguises. Conflict. Determination. Wisdom. Humour. Sacrifice. Agreement. Trade. Equality. Time. Rhythm. Balance. Strength. Contemplation. A Call To Action. A Journey. Shelter. Sound. Intent. Action. Magic. Transformation. Luck. Forgiveness. Redemption. Celebration. Applause. Farewells. Power.
Is there a book or a story that had impact on you?
Some of our team share their experiences:
Lucy (Executive Director): My early experiences of storytelling (and the inception of my love of puppets!) came from watching ‘Jim Henson’s: The Storyteller’. Featuring some quite dark retellings of traditional tales, I learnt that there are similar stories in many cultures, such as the Cinderella story which is replicated across the world over in different forms.
Iain (Programme Director): I remember weekly readings of The Hobbit at Primary school. The teacher clearly loved this story and his telling was infectious, we’d spend time with him attempting to draw what we thought Gollum looked like. The school year ran out and the story was never finished. Months later I found a copy in my local library and my lifelong love of fantasy worlds began. These days for me it’s more about the second breakfasts rather than the dragon hunting…
Jess (Programme Coordinator): I’ve always loved listening to stories from my Grandparents and all the wonderful things they have done in their lives, nothing beats a brew and a story ❤.
Sketchbook page.
What can happen next?
For those of you interested in finding out more about the project and wanting to explore how this could work in your setting or own practice we have a taster session with Rebecca Bell, kindly hosted at St Lukes on the 24th March 2025. For more details check the link: https://tinyurl.com/y2c2vt6p
FREE but booking is essential:
To find out more about our CPD Programme visit: Empowering Educators
and our network events: Power Up
or our Creative Freedom School Programme: Creative Freedom