Dear Parents/Carers,

It's safe to say the coronavirus has had a huge impact on all our lives.  In a blink of an eye, life has become a little different for our children at Shaftesbury. 

We are sure the children have been enjoying some more time with you and hope you have enjoyed finding the time to be able to do the things we don't usually get the chance to do.  We know the children have shown amazing courage and resilience throughout this period, despite losing the structure and stability of being at school and seeing their friends and relatives.

As a well done ​to the children for staying positive during these uncertain times, we wanted to find them a little treat.  We have been in touch with a professional storyteller, Vanessa Wolf who works with schools and is wonderful at retelling stories in an exciting and engaging way.  We will encourage the children later to undertake some activities based on her readings.  She has agreed to do a live recording on Youtube for Shaftesbury children only this week on Thursday 14th May at 2pm for EYFS/KS1 pupils and at 3pm for KS2 pupils followed by more storytelling on Friday 15th May  at 11am for EYFS/KS1 and 12 pm for KS2 children. In order to access these stories for your children to listen to you will need to follow the links below on the days mentioned above. There will be an opportunity to chat to Vanessa and ask her questions if you wish.

Research has shown that story telling sessions and author events inspire children and help them on their journey to a love of reading and enjoyment of writing.  So we hope that your child will enjoy and benefit from this exclusive story telling session.  There will be two stories aimed at KS1 and two for KS2 but of course the children are welcome to enjoy all four.  It will cover lots of other areas of the curriculum so will definitely tick some learning jobs for the day too!

Here are the private links to access the stories:
Thursday 14th May at 2pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fweyWViw88M&t=4s Henry croft(younger kids)

Thursday 14th May at 3pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsB-8fOLd7Y&t=44s Lady of Stavoren(older kids)

Friday 15th May at 11am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDxJjB93dj8 calabash Boy (younger kids)

Friday 15th May at 12pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOKEgYTITPA freedom bird (older kids)


We hope you enjoy the sessions and look forward to hearing about what the children thought of it.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs O’Connor
Head of School