Beech Class Soundtrack Their Story During National Storytelling Week

This week our theme is National Storytelling Week - a celebration of storytelling, reading and writing for pleasure.

National Storytelling Week 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 2026 is Soundtrack Your Story. Everyone has their own musical story - whether it’s in the songs we love and the music we dance to, through British Sign Language and the rhythms we feel, the soundscapes of everyday life, or the soundtracks we hear in films and games. Music connects us to words. It helps us express who we are and how we see the world.

Research highlights that exploring stories through lyrics can be an effective way to re-engage young people with reading for enjoyment and writing for pleasure. Slightly more than 3 in 5 (60.7%) children and young people age 8-18 regularly read song lyrics digitally. Writing song lyrics is also popular among children and young people age 8-18, with slightly less than 1 in 5 (17.8%) reporting that they write lyrics on a screen at least once a month.

Today Beech Class took part in a live storytelling workshop with rapper and storyteller, Alim Kamara. Based on the Soundtrack Your Story theme, the workshop aimed to inspire a love of story creation through music and rhythm.

#oaklandshungerford #oaklandsschoolhungerford #oaklandsschool #oaklands #theoaklandsway #NationalStorytellingWeek #NationalLiteracyTrust #SoundtrackYourStory #storytelling