Why Tales Toolkit Has Transformed My Practice

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Katy Copeland is an incredible teacher and storyteller, who has shared the Tales Toolkit story magic at every setting she's worked in over the last 7 years. Katy was kind enough to share her experience with us...

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As an Early Years practitioner, I have followed Kate’s Tales Toolkit journey via social media from the very beginning. I have been using Tales Toolkit in school since 2016, when I was fortunate enough to be one of the schools selected to trial the newly launched training package. From the outset, Kate’s enthusiasm, drive and unwavering commitment to making a difference for children have been truly inspiring.

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After 31 years in primary education, I can honestly say that it is the resource that has had the greatest impact on my practice.

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Over the last seven and a half years, I have introduced and embedded Tales Toolkit across the Early Years classrooms in three different UK primary schools. After 31 years in primary education, I can honestly say that it is the resource that has had the greatest impact on my practice. I was initially drawn to Tales Toolkit to address a clear gap in our end-of-year Reception data – particularly around boys’ writing.

After reading the inspiring research from Goldsmiths University, which highlighted the impact of Tales Toolkit on engaging boys, improving literacy skills and closing the literacy gap, I felt confident that this approach could make a difference. What quickly became apparent, however, was that the impact went far beyond writing. Tales Toolkit significantly enhanced listening and attention, speaking and vocabulary, confidence, creativity, understanding of story structure, and motivation to mark make and write. Seven years on, I still love looking around my setting and seeing children as young as two, three and four independently creating rich, imaginative stories.

In my previous local authority, I regularly shared information about the power of Tales Toolkit as a storytelling approach with Early Years Advisors and colleagues. My passion for the resource, alongside the internal data I was able to share showing significant progress across many areas of the curriculum, helped influence Rochdale to become one of the boroughs that invested local authority funding so schools could provide Tales Toolkit for their children. I was then invited to be part of the Rochdale Communication Project, supporting 12 schools to introduce and embed Tales Toolkit.

In every setting where I have used Tales Toolkit, many children have entered with very low levels of language, low self-confidence and underdeveloped social and emotional skills. I am currently Assistant Headteacher at a nursery school located in an area ranked within the top 1% most deprived in the country. Our school has 41.4% of children with English as an Additional Language and 35.6% with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Since introducing Tales Toolkit in this setting in September, the impact has been remarkable. One child, previously a reluctant talker with an expressionless face, now joins in verbally and shares her emotions freely – including her magical smile. Tales Toolkit provided a relaxed, playful environment with no pressure to speak. She was able to join in at her own pace and in her own way, initially through actions and gestures. Staff followed her lead, using her interests to shape storytelling, with incredibly positive results.

As a staff team, we have also explored using Tales Toolkit with children who have an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis. By making stories and props more sensory and tactile, we have been able to better support social communication and interaction. The child-led nature of Tales Toolkit, rooted in children’s interests, has led to deeply rewarding levels of engagement and involvement.

The online Tales Toolkit training is extremely well presented. After each session, staff are eager to put ideas into practice immediately. One of the greatest strengths of the training is that all staff receive the information first-hand, rather than relying on one person to cascade learning. The ability to revisit training sessions for a full year is invaluable, particularly when there are staff changes. Whole-staff training also allows discussions to be firmly rooted in our children, our setting and our families – and, importantly, it gives us the freedom to have fun with learning.

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Tales Toolkit has also been a powerful way to involve parents and carers in their children’s learning.

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Tales Toolkit has also been a powerful way to involve parents and carers in their children’s learning. We have found many ways for families to use the resources at home, which was especially important during the pandemic. Whether through virtual learning platforms or live Zoom sessions, Tales Toolkit adapted effortlessly, enabling children to continue creating wonderful stories during lockdown. The Home Learning section of the Tales Toolkit website offers parents a wealth of ideas and resources, and I have also supported Kate in trialling an online parent training programme, which I am keen to introduce in my current setting once officially launched.

I am so pleased to have discovered Tales Toolkit. Every time I move to a new setting, one of my absolute priorities is to introduce it, and each time I witness the profound difference it makes to children’s lives. Tales Toolkit has already won numerous awards and is a truly deserving recipient of a Yidan Prize Award. The recognition and funding such an award brings would enable Kate and her team to reach even more children and families, inspiring practitioners not only across the UK but around the world.

Katy Copeland
Assistant Headteacher
Hoyle Nursery School, Bury, England