GENERAL NEWS NEWS...
Swedish ‘Storyraids’ come to England’s schools for first time
Storytelling ensemble Storyraiders are bringing the Swedish concept of ‘storyraids’ to schools across England for the first time, with support from Arts Council England. Storyraids are a series of high- impact surprise storytelling visits across a school which leave a lasting legacy thanks to integrated staff training. The element of surprise creates the excitement that something out-of-the-ordinary is happening and turbo-charges the impact on children’s enthusiasm for story, oracy and language.
In a storyraid, three or more storytellers arrive at a school: each knocks on a classroom door in the middle of a lesson: “I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’m looking for people to tell a story to. Can I tell one to you?” They tell a ten-minute story and disappear as quickly as they came (heading to more classes across the school). A storyraid is in progress!
Storyraiders founder Dominic Kelly first heard of the idea 15 years ago. He contacted storyraid company Fabula Storytelling in Stockholm, who invited him to take part in three storyraids in Sweden so he could bring the concept to England. Fabula lost a storyteller to illness just as their co-founder Kersti Ståbi was evacuated to Sweden from work in Japan after the earthquake that Spring. She filled in for her colleague, met Dominic… and they got married a year later. Instead of three storyraids, Dominic took part in over 60 across the country over the next decade. With his wife, Kersti, and their highly- experienced fellow storyteller Emily Hennessey, he has now finally brought them to England.
A pilot
programme in Northwest England during Spring 2024
explored whether storyraids would be as successful on this side of the North Sea.
They were. “Time and again teachers and school leaders told us their playgrounds were buzzing with storytelling even by breaktime as the children excitedly told each other of these mysterious visitors in their lessons and shared the stories they’d heard. We’ve had many messages from parents, too, telling us how their children came home full of it and told the stories they’d heard to their families. The impact on children’s engagement with stories and storytelling is beyond anything I’ve seen from any other storytelling intervention of a similar scale”.
Storyraiders are currently unrolling a programme of storyraids across the country, each part-subsidised by Arts Council England. Although most of the spaces in the programme have been snapped up they have a couple of spaces left, and already have fundraising plans for further waves of storyraids for which they are inviting expressions of interest from schools.
UK’s biggest active travel school challenge returns
Children are invited to take on the UK’s biggest walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling challenge to help change the future of travel. Sustrans’ Big Walk and Wheel, sponsored by Schwalbe Tyres UK Limited, takes place from 24th March to 4th April 2025 and inspires children across the country to make active journeys, boosting physical and mental health, improving air quality and discovering how individual actions make a difference.
The challenge is open to all primary and secondary schools in the UK, including special educational needs, additional support needs and additional learning needs schools. It is free to take part and there are daily prizes to be won.
New research by Sustrans reveals that while, positively, 62% of children walk, wheel or scoot five or more days a week, more than half (54%) travel by car or van five or more days a week.
Rachel Toms, Director of Urbanism and UK Programmes at Sustrans, says: “Our latest research gives us a clear picture: children want to walk and cycle. Sustrans is committed to working with communities to overcome existing travel barriers and the Big Walk and Wheel is a catalyst for change. “It’s so inspiring to see the many thousands of children from schools across
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the country who participate, and we can’t wait to see this year’s Big Walk and Wheel transform the school run.”
Sustrans’ research also highlights a significant gender gap among children cycling, with only 17% of girls cycling five or more times a week compared to 28% of boys.
The report shows children want to travel more actively and identifies huge potential to improve access to cycling, enabling more girls and boys to cycle at a young age and reap the long-term health, economic and social benefits. The Big Walk and Wheel supports children and their families to choose walking, wheeling, scooting or cycling for the journey to school and form habits that can last a lifetime.
resources for schools and those taking part in the competition, as well as prizes on offer for primary and secondary schools that log their pupils’ active journeys to school.
Sustrans’ recent report shows there is still a heavy reliance on cars and vans for getting to school. It also reveals the majority of pupils (82% of primary- aged children and 79% of secondary) support more traffic-free paths for walking, wheeling and cycling.
April 2025
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