It has been great to start the new school year with the news that Shine and Ernest Cook Trusts are enabling Norton First School to extend and expand their collaboration with Chris Jelley and his Storywalks ‘engine’.

Storywalks will now travel to three further schools with different cohorts and needs: Rode Methodist and Hayesdown First Schools, and Oakfield Academy (Middle School). The focus will remain on making a demonstrable impact on Key Stage 2 literacy.

In a separate strand supported by Shine, Chris will also be working with the West Somerset schools of Crowcombe and Stogumber.

This will enable around 400 children and staff to work with the Storywalks team and write, illustrate and geo-locate their own tales in the landscape, where they can be enjoyed by anybody with a smart phone or tablet.

It is a common complaint that children today, and particularly boys, spend too much time ‘looking at screens’. This project uses screens and ‘gadgets’, but as a positive tool to encourage children to venture outdoors to read, write and explore.

The funding will enable:

• More schools to get involved
• Additional storywalks in community settings outside school
• Development and testing of Storywalks as an online resource

Break 3 are delighted to be supporting this exciting project with the co-ordination and evaluation.

To find out more about Storywalks for schools click here.

Shine 2 Education lead Claire Vowell with Rode First School