Last week, our Nursery and Reception children were delighted to welcome Simon Firth from Gripping Yarns for a wonderful storytelling session.

Simon introduced the children to a lovable stuffed chimpanzee called Ooh-Ooh and brought two exciting adventures to life through the power of words and sign language. The children listened beautifully throughout, completely captivated by the stories and eagerly joined in with some of the interactive moments.

The visit has inspired a real love of storytelling across both classes. Nursery now has its very own Ooh-Ooh for the children to use as they create and share their own imaginative stories, while Reception children have been enthusiastically using the classroom puppets to bring their own tales to life.

It was a truly engaging and inspiring experience, and we would like to thank Simon for sharing the magic of storytelling with our youngest learners.

After the visit Simon sent this to us: “I enjoyed my visit to your school very much. I was very interested in the storytelling strategies you have in place. I love the idea of the children being assisted to tell their stories with an audience supporting them. I love the way your practice responds to the children’s ideas.”

Storytelling is a such a key part of children’s development and it was lovely for this to be recognised by the Simon too!