by Students from Class 5JH at Pilton Bluecoat Academy

It’s 2045, and Isla is bored. She accidentally flies her magic carpet under a rainbow and finds herself on a Scottish island back in 1940, meeting Jacob, an ex-Navy hero who is hiding from the world after the death of his brother on a warship. Isla uses her time-travelling carpet to help Jacob meet his brother again. Isla and Jacob are both given inspiration by the lake to do something really useful with their lives.

by students from Class 5MR at Pilton Bluecoat Academy

Charlotte finds an old tea-strainer on the beach, but Bob discovers it is a tea-strainer with magical powers and it drags him back to a dark past where he was implicated in a fatal gas explosion. Together Charlotte and Bob time-travel back to prevent the explosion from happening, and Charlotte wins her very own Bake-Off in the process.

by Students from High Bickington C of E Academy

Chris’ house is on fire and his family are gone – but with the help of a Fire Ant, he journeys for many miles to a new kingdom, where he works in the kitchen of the King’s castle. He befriends the princess (Lizzie), but gets in trouble when he plays football with a cabbage and breaks the Queen’s precious vase. The King sets Chris three impossible tasks, which he solves, but no-one could have guessed what was about to happen next.

by Students from Witheridge Cof E Academy

There’s a mystery in the zoo where Jessie works – somebody is stealing strips of fur from her favourite tiger. She follows strange clues into the woods, only to be imprisoned by a wicked witch. Bob tries to save her but he is captured too. Jessie and Bob can only escape with the help of a fish-eagle, but is the zoo properly protected from magic now?

These key findings and quotes are taken from the end of project report written by the University of South Wales. Throughout the 3-year project research partners from the Storytelling and Education Departments at the university collaborated with the Artists, the Children and Class Teachers, and each Head of School and Multi-Academy Trust Leadership Team. The external analysis and support throughout every year of the project enabled an embedded research perspective to ensure evidence was gathered independently for reflection, CPD, and best practice. This resulted in rigorous data collected daily, termly, and yearly through interviews and observations, questionnaires, meetings, and INSET provision to capture impact from every participant. Their analysis resulted in an 84-page report, literature review, and several papers presented at: the World Education Summit 2023, the British (and World) Education Research Association annual conferences 2022 and 2024, for which the latter ‘Learning to listen to our voices: Reflection and Creativity in action’ received ‘Best Presentation Award’ with ‘Highly Commended Abstract’.

• The Project had an impact on all aspects of literacy, including oracy and vocabulary development

• The project built confidence and self-esteem (both linked to achievement)

• Pupil agency facilitates learning, particularly using the Mantle of the Expert approach

• The project fostered key soft skills

• The project developed key 21st Century skills

• The project reinforced community links

• The project helped teachers develop their own pedagogy and supported curriculum delivery effectively 

• The project showed how important effective reflection and reflexivity is in developing pedagogy

• The project highlighted the importance of teacher/school engagement in terms of pupil success

• A mastery approach involves all children

• The project has had a lasting impact on storytelling/oracy skills

• The project provides a good template for future work between artists and schools

• The project has highlighted potential issues within the curriculum that is content driven rather than skills based