A Creative Early Years Partnership with The Rep
Project Background
The Early Years Foundation Stage states:
“The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development.”
During the past two years, Birmingham Early Years Networks (BEYN) has been working in partnership with The Rep in Birmingham and in particular Becky Reidy, a drama practitioner, by offering story-based drama workshops to Early Years settings in Birmingham.
Through story and drama, the focus has been on developing children’s communication and language with a focus on well-known children’s stories.
Over the two years, 20 settings have participated with representatives from PVI settings, Maintained Nursery Schools (MNS), Primary Schools, Special Schools and Childminders; 291 children have taken part alongside 82 practitioners.
Prior to the sessions, settings were provided with copies of the books to enable children to become familiar with the story. In the first year, the books were selected to link with the programme at The Rep and included The Snowman, Welcome to England, and Whatever Next.
In the second year, following feedback, each setting had two visits from Becky enabling them to develop the story further and build on the first session. The story of Jack and the Beanstalk formed the theme for the work. The approach in each setting was responsive to the children and the physical space. This varied across both years from a home setting, classroom, and community hall.
Becky from The Rep explains more
Before we started on the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, I worked with the children to support their understanding of where the beanstalk came from (a bean) and how it got so big!
We played short and simple high-energy games to engage the children and spark their interest in what the story might be about and then recreated a garden in which beans were planted and gardeners watered them to make them huge beanstalks. The children particularly loved it when I ‘watered’ them with a water spray bottle!
The Rep’s Early Years production for 2022 was Jack and the Magic Beanstalk and I had some of the props from the production duplicated for this project. This lends itself perfectly to the project as it allowed all the children to touch, hold and use the props for themselves and to feel like they were a part of the story, not simply just listening to it.
Children and staff from Jellybabies Nursery in Northfield taking part in a workshop with Becky from The Rep
I used a really simple tool for these first sessions called ‘call and response’. This is where we recite the story and when we reach a speaking part, we tell the child what to say and they simply repeat it. If you have more confident children you can say “The giant said: …” and cue the child to speak. By using a ‘call and response’ method, the children are invited to play a role but not have too much pressure placed on them if they are feeling nervous, but also allowing more confident children to take the reins and decide what their character might say in that particular scene.
The following week, having left the story with the nursery, we shifted our focus onto a new story: Jim and the Beanstalk.
In this week, we encouraged staff to use a popular drama tool called ‘teacher in role’. This is where the teacher or group leader takes part in the drama, constantly or when they feel it is necessary. They assume a role, which may or may not be a major or influential one. By being involved in the drama, the teacher can control and extend ideas from 'inside' the drama. It is used with whole-group drama with the children also in role.
With the staff member playing the role of the sad, lonely Giant - who has been left with bad eyes, no teeth or any hair - I was able to support the children more easily as they played the role of Jim and the optometrist, dentist, and wig maker. The children loved creating the objects that would help the giant, and it was a great opportunity to embed maths into the drama session- making circles for the glasses, squares for the teeth, and counting the strands of hair we sewed into the wig.
The final thrill for the children was the running from the Giant at the end of the story - only to find his thank you letter and our own gold coin; the children loved discussing what they might like to buy for themselves!
Practitioner feedback
Practitioners were asked for their feedback following the sessions.
On what the children enjoyed most they responded:
“The children really enjoyed role-playing the story and taking on the role of the giant and Jim. Through role-playing the story they were able to recall all the events that happened in the story. It was wonderful to hear them using the story language.”
“The children enjoyed all the sessions as they were really interactive getting the children involved, letting the children express themselves.”
“Our children really benefitted from the sessions, and it was wonderful to see how enthusiastic they were to join in with acting out the story and taking on the roles of the characters. The session added a real sparkle to the children’s learning experience”
These experiences link closely with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework which states:
“Through conversation, story-telling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.”
Learning for practitioners
There was also an impact on learning for the practitioners.
“This was the first time that we had read the story ‘Jim and the Beanstalk’ and were amazed at how much our children enjoyed listening to the story and were able to recall what happened in the story. We will be adding this story to our planning for next year as there is lots of rich new vocabulary within the text.”
“Staff developed their understanding and knowledge on how to use props in the setting to really bring a story to life. They have taken lots of ideas away from the session.”
“The experience and leadership of the activities was outstanding and all the children, especially our children who have individual needs, had an amazing experience. Again, I cannot say how much of an impact the sessions have had on our children but also on me as a practitioner; seeing how to explore stories, engaging pupils in a unique way. It was a pleasure to be part of the delivery and observe outstanding practice.”
Conclusions
Becky sums up her feelings on the project:
“Working with Early Years is such a passion of mine and I hope that this was reflected in the work we created with each placement. All the children took part in the storytelling and activities with such enthusiasm, and they fully bought into the story, first as Jack and then later as Jim working out how they could possibly help the Giant - it was pleasure to see. It was also fantastic to see the children’s confidence growing from the first week to second.”
And finally, from a practitioner:
“As a practitioner, what made my heart smile was the feedback from parents. After each session, parents commented on what their children had told them about their experience. Literally each day after a session the parents were really excited to tell me all about what they had been told. Nothing can measure this feedback!”
Do you want an opportunity to have The Rep in your school?
This year we’ve invited reception classes to participate. One school from each District will have two sessions with a drama practitioner based on The Rep’s production of Little Red Riding Hood.
