Our literacy festival evening was about the importance of reading aloud to children.  We ran a series of different workshops for parents, showing how we develop inference in school with the types of questions and stimuli that we share with children. 

It was lovely to hear so many enthusiastic responses from parents as they left.  Words like “fantastic”, “fabulous” and “amazing” were fed back to the staff.  So after the apologies I would like to share some thank yous!

Alison Tanqueray from the RSC did a wonderful job at sourcing props for our teachers’ storytelling sessions.  It turned the classrooms into new worlds for the children.  We are so very lucky to have had Alison’s support in this.  Thank you Alison!  The props were picked up and delivered by Alan and Craig Hodgkins which included carrying a cast iron bed into the Year 1 classroom!  

Hannah Young is a professional actor who took care and time to prepare a series of readings from work written by Year 6 pupils.  Her delivery was spellbinding.  Hearing our own pupils’ work presented in this way felt like a true privilege. 

The children were fantastically well behaved, even as it got close to bedtime for some of them.  A big thank you to all of them and for their efforts to come appropriately dressed for the occasion!

This event was very well supported by parents.  Thank you so much to all of you for your enthusiasm and engagement. 

The staff at The Willows are a very dedicated team as I am sure you will agree.  Mrs Musgrove must be thanked for planning this wonderful event.  And we must also thank all the staff involved who gave their time, energy and enthusiasm to our school community.

FILM SESSION

We looked at a selection of short films and film extracts to consider the different ways we can develop children's inference skills through using on screen narratives.  

Here are some of the clips we used...