Reading across the school
National Storytelling Week 2025
This fantastic annual event is a joyful celebration of the power of sharing stories. Stories teach us about the world; they allow us to step into someone else’s shoes and feel empathy; they help us to relax and escape and they can help develop essential literacy skills.
The theme for National Storytelling Week 2025 is ‘Reimagine your world’. Whether it’s something unexpected on your way to school, odd sounds you hear at night, or a path you’ve never followed, the world around us is full of secret lives, places and possibilities. The most extraordinary story can come from the most ordinary place: it just needs someone to find it.
At St Joseph's, we celebrated National Storytelling Week by going on nature walks to find a hidden door to a new world, writing poems about our focus book 'Our Tower' by Joseph Coelho, designing our own superhero based around the book 'Onyeka' by Tola Okogwu and taking part in story writing workshops.
Year 2
"I think tree man from Our Tower is real because I could hear the rustling wind through the crack of the tree bark." Sienna in Y2.
"I love the Our Tower book because the pictures help you to imagine." Keeva in Y2.
Year 3
Year 5
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What did we read in Autumn term?
Reception
Year 1
Year 2
Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr
Flotsam by David Wiesner
Year 3
The Day The Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura
Year 4
The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson
Iron Man by Ted Hughes
Year 5
Street Child by Berlie Doherty
Year 6
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
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What a way to inspire our children to live out their dream than having a local author 'Alex Foulkes' to visit our school; Alex explained that she has always loved writing but was never the best out of her class. She remained determined to make the minds of others travel to places they did not even know existed. It was a great day! We all learned a lot, asked lots of questions and had a lot of FUN.
Finley and Dean in Year 6 have been discussing who is going to take her book, 'Rules for Vampires' out of the library first - they can't wait for it to arrive.
Kaleb in Year 2 said, "I had such a fun day going to Hednesford Library and meeting a real author. I can't decide which part of the day was the best!" He continued to say that he loved being able to get his questions answered.
Sy in Year 1 said, "We got to see the front cover of her book and it looked really cool. It had bats on it and looked mysterious."
KS2 spent time with Alex using their imagination and creativity to create their own SECRET BASE - just like she did in her books.
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