Tylorstown Primary School

Background
Tylorstown Primary School is located in Rhondda Cynon Taf. There are 177 pupils on roll of which 41.5% are eFSM. The project aimed to develop the oracy and the imagination of learners in Year 1 & 2.

Activity

Over the course of a term, the classroom teacher and creative practitioner worked together to explore traditional fairy tales and encourage the learners to open up their imaginations. To develop the imagination and inquisitive Creative Habits of Mind, the learners met characters and explored the settings for each of the different stories. The learners were often very familiar with the stories but struggled to think about anything outside of what they already knew. Sessions got them to imagine the ‘befores’ and ‘afters’ and create visual representations of the different worlds. Storytelling Trails and treasure hunts were also used to introduce the learners to words, sounds & writing, alongside collaborating together as a class. The school’s Forest school area was developed to include an ‘Imagination Shed’ which the learners designed and decorated. This became the focal point of most of the activity and contained various props, which became the starting point for storytelling activities.

Impact
The teacher reported that the confidence, creativity and oracy skills of the learners developed. It was also noted that as the project progressed, the attendance of the class improved significantly; This was paired with an enthusiasm for school. Pupils talked about the project all the time and brought objects in from home to enhance the work, one child wrote a letter from 'the wolf' and left it on the teacher’s desk. The teacher commented that a piece of written work which would often take a week to complete (sometimes only one word per day from some learners) was completed in two days, and approached enthusiastically by pupils.

The school also observed a change to parental engagement, with a significant increase in parental attendance at a parent’s open afternoon. This is attributed to learners talking about the project when they were at home.

The classroom teacher has gained in confidence and changed their approach to teaching. They now regularly plan with another teacher, sharing ideas and using the resources and learning from this project. The teacher changed their attitude to written evidence and values the importance of the development of the oracy skills and imagination as these are a prerequisite of becoming a good writer.