Primary Narrative Bundle for children aged 5 to 11 years

Based on the work of Bec Shanks and further developed in collaboration with Helen Rippon, Story Starters provides an extensive set of colourful illustrations linked to a structured Narrative framework which will help a child practice build structured story sequences

Based on Bec’s Narrative Therapy research, Story Starters develops the concepts of ‘Who?’, ‘Where?’, ‘When?’, ‘What happened?’, and ‘The End' within a conventionalised form that includes:

• scene setting
• initiating the story sequence
• providing a problem that requires resolution
• solving the problem.

For more information see below.

With its focus on Early Years Literacy, Narrative Skill Development for Ages 3-5, this popular pack contains lesson plans, activities and picture resources to teach the Narrative framework to children entering reception class. The resource is aimed at developing children's speaking and listening skills through narrative and it provides both speech and language therapists and teachers with an approach that is:

• highly structured, including clear lesson plans and follow-on activities
• designed to address many aspects of language and communication including attention, listening, receptive and expressive language skills
• based on meaningful activities that are common to many classrooms
• flexible and adaptable for different age groups
• appropriate to use with individuals, small groups and whole classes
• complementary to 'Literacy Hour' type activities.

The small group session plans in this pack can be used for small group work or 'dipped into' for whole class activities.

For more information see below.

One of our best-selling resources, this fun and colourful pack aims to develop children’s speaking and listening skills through narrative. It provides both Speech and Language Therapists and Teachers with an approach that is:

• highly structured, including clear lesson plans and follow-on activities
• designed to address many aspects of language and communication including attention, listening, receptive and expressive language skills
• based on meaningful activities that are common to many classrooms
• flexible and adaptable for different age groups
• appropriate to use with individuals, small groups and whole classes
• centred on developing oral skills and complementary to national literacy framework activities.

The varied, coloured resources teach the concepts of ‘Who’, ‘Where’, ‘When’, ‘What Happened Next’ and ‘The End’. Language and literacy development through Narrative using this framework can be applied to many typical classroom activities e.g. retelling events, story comprehension and planning as well as supporting explanations in verbal and written form.

For more information see below.

Designed to support and build narrative skills, moving from spoken to written stories, this popular pack "From Oral to Written Narrative" goes beyond the simple narrative framework which may be familiar to younger children. It provides a fun set of colourful illustrated resources to further develop children’s use of descriptive language for character and setting.

The ideas in this pack are aimed at facilitating children’s understanding of a more complex story ‘blueprint’ (developed from the simpler versions of ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘what happened’ and ‘the end’). The ‘what happened’ element of the story is extended into more ‘problem–solution’ scenarios and additional resources are provided to support children’s understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the characters and how to incorporate dialogue into their oral and written narratives.

The focus of delivery in this narrative pack delivery is mainly via whole class activities, jointly planned with teachers and tailored to fit in with planned literacy targets.

For more information about the contents of this large pack, see below.

Creating Superhero Stories is a narrative KS3 resource suitable for use by speech and language professionals, teachers and teaching assistants. Pupils aged 9 years and above are increasingly required to record their narratives in written form. The greater emphasis on the use of written narrative to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and general ability within a subject has the potential to doubly disadvantage any young person who has difficulties with understanding and using narrative.

An effective method to support students’ written narrative is to provide writing frames or templates to scaffold both their fiction and non-fiction writing. These writing frames typically consist of outlines that provide keyword prompts. However, by the time a young person reaches secondary education, such writing frames are rarely used, if at all, as pupils are expected to have reached a certain level of competence in maintaining a written narrative.

"Creating Superhero Stories" is a targeted intervention for pupils between the ages of 9 years and 14+ years, who may need additional support to develop well-structured oral and written narrative accounts, helping them develop their Narrative writing through superhero stories.

For more information see below.