This year we focussed on a trilogy of  wordless books by the American author and illustrator Aaron Becker. EYFS and KS1 used the first book Journey,  Y3/4 used the second book Quest and our oldest pupils studied the final book Return.

The books deal with themes such as  loneliness, determination, friendship, adventure, travel and problem solving. Throughout the week pupils had plenty of oracy opportunities discussing the plot, characters motives and  actions. What could they be saying to each other? Where is the story set? Why did she do that?  Would you have done the same?

Each pupil produced a piece of narrative linked to a section of their book.  This writing had a real purpose and audience as it was displayed at our 'Corridor of Creativity' workshop for parents after school. At the end of week pupils from each phase in school met together to share their writing from each book. Pupils also produced artwork linked to landscapes from the books as a stimulus.

Our week was launched by a writer and a storyteller called Richard Kay.  He worked with Y4 to creative stories , harness their imaginations and discuss his inspirations for his stories. We also had Northern Arts Factory visit to deliver workshops to Y1 and Y6.

Like the main characters in the wordless books, our pupils enjoyed using our 'doodle walls' to express their ideas about the books and record ideas for their own writing.

Our Literature Festival was based on Aesop’s Fables last year.  Each class read and discussed numerous fables, some well-known ones like The Hare and The Tortoise and The Boy Who Cried Wolf and some less familiar ones too.  They unpicked the messages in the fables and learnt a little bit about who Aesop supposedly was and how the fables were passed down through storytelling before someone recorded them.  Each class re-told or created their own fable linked to the theme they had been allocated.  Pupils planned, drafted, edited and published their own fable.

Our Focus Week began with a visit from Eden Ballantyne, a professional storyteller who brought to life  the fable ‘The Birds, The Beasts and The Bat’ in our launch assembly.  Following that, On Monday and Tuesday  Eden worked with classes from Year 1 to Year 6 helping them to understand fables, using props and puppets to re-enact fables and giving pupils top tips about how to be an effective storyteller.

Each year group focussed on fables with a particular theme.

Nursery and Reception focussed on fables with a theme of friendship  such as : The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse,The Lion and The Dove and The Lion and The Mouse.

Year 1  focussed on fables with a theme of greed and they read: The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg, The Fox In The Tree and The Dog With a Bone.  Year 2 studied fables which were all about being cunning such as : The Crow And The Jug and The Dog On The Roof

Year 3  read and discussed fables on the theme of quarrels.  They read fables such as : The Sun and The Wind, The Man and The Lion and The Fox And The Stork.  In Year 4 pupils focussed on the theme of  pride.  They read and discussed fables like: The Fox And The Crow, The Hare and The Tortoise and The Eagle The Jackdaw And The Shepherd.

Our older pupils in Year 5 studied fables on the theme of retorts ( angry, sharp or witty remarks).  Fables such as : The Fox and The Rooster,  The Piglet And The Sheep and The Lioness And The Vixen all link to this theme.  In Year 6 pupils discussed the theme of comeuppance  which means a punishment or fate that someone deserves.   The Tortoise And The Eagle and The Ant And The Grasshopper deal with the theme of comeuppance.

We also focused on developing our printing skills in our artwork this week. Children produced a piece of artwork to reflect a fable.  The background of each piece of art was created used printing skills.  You can see leaf rubbings from Nursery and Reception, leaf printing in KS1, in Year 3 and 4 pupils printed using oil pastels and in Year 5 and 6 our oldest pupils used polystyrene. The main focus of the artwork was the drawing of the animals.

At the end of our Literature Festival we invited parents to school to see our excellent fables and artwork.  We held a fable recital in the main school hall  where pupils  from each class shared  their amazing fables and oracy skills. We also hosted a fantastic collaboration workshop!  Year 2  and  Year 4  children from all four schools in our Multi Academy Trust worked to produce and present a fable together.