Story-Telling Extravaganza at The Unicorn School

Published on isbi School News dated Thursday 27th of November 2014

This week pupils of The Unicorn School found their classrooms transformed into a world of mystery and delight, as literature was brought to life in two mornings of story-telling. The school was metamorphazised into scenes from imagination and literature, in 'Tales before bedtime' the children feasted on cocoa and cookies in a Bedouin tent whilst overhead twinkling fairy lights recreated the star-lit desert sky. In 'Smaug's Lair' the children encountered a Tolkienesque dragon's cave crammed with treasure, scary stories were told in 'Tales of the unexpected' and war stories narrated in a simulated 1st world war trench. The children polished up their performance skills in 'Dressing Up a Tale', acting out 'Romeo and Juliet' in full costume, replete with diving flippers and space boppers!

The whole school joined in the story-telling event designed to get children directly involved in literature, using sight, sound, touch, taste and even smell to immerse the children completely in the atmosphere of stories and imagination. The event was tailored to build core literature skills such as speaking and listening, as well as developing drama skills.

The Unicorn School is an Oxfordshire-based school for children with dyslexia and related difficulties. 'Teaching literature through immersion in story-telling is a wonderful way of opening up the joy of reading' says Jackie Vaux, Unicorn School Head Teacher. 'Every year we run an immersive teaching event based on a different aspect of the National Curriculum. We have had great success with art, science and maths events. This year the theme is literature and we couldn't be more excited'.

Judging by their looks of wide-eyed wonder, the children couldn't agree more!