Halsway Manor and Tales from the Trees

Josh Wedderkopp (Lead Teacher) Clare Viner (Storyteller) and Rebekah West (Quantock Ranger)

Sometimes events roll past so fast that it's tricky to capture all the fabulous things which are going on. Mid October saw the culmination of part one of Stogumber and Crowcombe Primary Schools with Storyteller Clare Viner.

The event was the culmination of several walks on the Quantocks with Quantock ranger Rebekah West and Clare Viner. 

They walked several routes but each focused on a different tree and a different story in the Quantock hills. So a tale about Sir Gwain and the Green Knight was told beneath a Holly tree and The Elder Mother story beneath an Elder tree.

The pupils were only told the stories once but tasked with orally retelling them at Halsway manor for this special event. They had no script nor props beyond a simple token medallion from their mother trees which meant each pupil needed to learn the bones of their story off my heart. 

A big emphasis was put on embellishment of each tale with the pupils adding descriptions in their own voices, a brilliant process which generates personal ownership of their tale.

On the night Clare was also signing copies of her book also called 'The Emerald Dragon' with many of these stories being drawn from the Quantocks and local area. For the pupils not only did they have some great stories to tell, but they also had Josh, Clare (and a little of me) guiding and encouraging them to become storytellers in their own right.

On the evening all the children really rose to the task with plenty of parents and helpers cramming into the oak panelled rooms for the evening.

The event was also recored in audio for 10Radio with the pupils taking direct control of the interviews, it is due to be aired sometime in the new year. 

 

After Christmas I will be stepping up to the plate with Josh Wedderkopp who won the SHINE Trust award to pilot storywalks earlier this year. Our plan is to take these tales and task the pupils with tethering them to the Quantocks hills using the Storywalk Engine and in the process gather some great learning from geography to literacy along the way.

But in the mean time I think we should celebrate the success of all the pupils at the Halsway Storytelling event, they were superb.

The Crowcombe and Stogumber School blog which has more detail of the storywalks with their school can be read here.

http://www.crowcombeandstogumberprimaryschools.co.uk/look-what-we-did1/news/storywalks-quantocks/