Story-Making Sessions – Y3 to Y7

What will happen during the session?

The Emporium of Stories will open its doors in October 2023, and we cannot wait to welcome school groups back to Grimm & Co to participate in our in-house workshops. We have been without a home for such a long time, and this is a very exciting year for us as we triple our offer for children and young people. We offer three programmes for schools, but our most popular session is our Storymaking workshop.

In a Storymaking workshop, our facilitators will tell you the tale of Grimm & Co, introducing our mysterious boss Graham Grimm who, alongside his sister Grizelda, founded our Emporium of Stories back in 1148 – just before
lunchtime. The session begins with our Imagination Gym, where everyone (including teachers) need to exercise their imaginations before we can jump headfirst into the Storymaking. This is when the magic truly starts…

During their time at Grimm & Co, the children and young people create the beginning and middle of a story together – whilst being hassled by the voice of the unseen Graham or Grizelda Grimm. The Grimms are desperate for your class to create stories because imagination gives energy to the magical beings! Throughout the session they will provide provocation and feedback. It’s all part of the fun! Not only that, but an illustrator will also be drawing the children and young people’s characters, live, straight onto the page! Your pupils are in control of how the story develops!

Finally, your pupils will each write their own individual ending ready to be published in their very own book.

If visiting Grimm & Co is not possible right now for your school, we can travel through the Mortal Realm and the many Worlds of the Wide Web to bring a Storymaking workshop to you!

“Cannot praise this session enough. After 10+ years in teaching it is by far the best trip I have ever taken pupils on. They were immersed and engaged from the minute we entered. Reluctant writers left as published authors and children who hate public speaking performed their endings. One girl we noticed was particularly engaged and has gone on to write stories for her siblings since the visit”

Y5/6 teacher, Rotherham

How will attending Grimm & Co benefit my class?

Grimm & Co aims to boost children’s attitude to learning, confidence, creativity, and courage through an innovative programme of interactive literacy workshops. Grimm & Co has worked closely with schools across Yorkshire to develop these workshops in order to meet the specific needs of local children, young people, and educators. 

Through our workshops, we aim to: 

  • Kick start children’s creativity, with a key focus on engaging reluctant writers through complete immersion in a unique and magical multi-sensory approach. As our magical architects are currently working on our new story destination, we are taking our approach into schools/providing digital experiences with an interactive programme using drama and creative writing techniques. 
  • Grow children’s imagination and confidence. At Grimm & Co, no idea is a bad idea and we support all children and young people to fearlessly unleash their imaginations. 
  • Help children value the importance of writing and develop a positive attitude to literacy, through the legacy of a high quality output that can be celebrated with teachers, family and peers. 
  • Develop collaborative skills as well as individual initiative through the collective creation of the story’s “building blocks” and the celebration of children’s unique responses. 

How will attending Grimm & Co benefit me?

Our literacy workshops have been developed in collaboration with teachers to help children develop greater self-confidence and self-respect; positive attitudes to writing, literacy and learning; new ways of thinking; and the courage to try new things.  

We survey all teachers who attend our story making sessions with their classes, and have received unanimously positive feedback. Many teachers have commented that attending Grimm & Co increased their students’ motivation to write and learn; that it built their confidence and self-esteem; and developed imagination, creativity, and new ways of thinking in their students. 

Teachers who have previously attended workshops at Grimm & Co have also said that the experience has sparked their imaginations as well as their children’s, stimulating new ideas and approaches around curriculum delivery, and helping enhance their literacy teaching and learning approaches. 

“It instilled confidence in more reluctant writers, it was exciting and engaging for the children”
Y3 teacher, Rotherham

 

“It was magical & inspiring, how engaged all the children were”
Y4 teacher, Durham


“James, who is extremely autistic and doesn’t enjoy writing was completely enthralled and hooked by the entire thing”
Y3 teacher, Barnsley

What is the class teacher’s role during a Grimm & Co workshop?

Sessions are delivered by Grimm & Co’s session leaders, with support from a team of trained volunteer writing mentors. You therefore won’t need to do any teaching on the morning! Instead, we encourage you to sit back with a tea or coffee to observe and reflect on how your class respond to the workshop. Seeing their teachers watching and enjoying the session can really help the engagement of the young people and the dynamic of the group.

The Grimm & Co approach is friendly and informal, which means that we like it when a class gets excitable and enthusiastic about their ideas! The session leaders are trained in behavior management, and are comfortable dealing with this when required. However, if there are any particular difficulties or incidents we would welcome your additional support.

We’d also welcome your help with handing out juice and biscuits during the refreshment break, and as well as any additional support you can offer if there are any young people who might have particular struggles when writing their individual endings.

You’re welcome to take photos during the session – and please feel free to Tweet / Facebook / Instagram us!

What practical information do I need to know about the workshops?

• The sessions run from 9.30am sharp to 1.30pm (this includes lunch at the end of the session – please bring packed lunches).
• All sessions take place at The Emporium of Stories, Ship Hill, Rotherham, S60 2HG.
• Sessions can be booked on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings throughout term time.
• The session works best with ages 7-11 but we have found that year seven and year eight students also benefit greatly from this experience. Equally, we are tailoring Storymaking for KS1 pupils so please get in touch.
• Maximum class size is 30
• We provide mid-morning juice and biscuits for the children + coffee / tea for teachers (and biscuits!)
• As we are a charity, we ask for a donation of £320 towards the cost of the workshop. This must be paid from the school’s budget; as a charity, a key part of our ethos is not to charge children and young people directly to attend workshops at Grimm & Co. This can be paid by cheque or Grimm & Co can invoice your school.
• We regret that we cannot offer refunds on cancellations made within two weeks of the workshop date unless a suitable replacement can be found.
• We have risk assessments in place in case you need to see them.
• Packed lunches can be eaten in Grimm & Co’s Cliffhanger Castle. The session will finish at 12:30pm and we would like to invite classes to stay and eat their packed lunches for 30mins before participating in a tour of the ground floor of The Emporium of Stories (and to visit our Apothecary and Library of Forgotten Books).

If you want to book a schools workshop, what does Grimm & Co need?

• Complete our booking form with details of your class size and requirements.  We will then respond to you with some suggested possible dates.
• Following confirmation of your booking, we’ll send you a very short online form, setting out what you can expect from us and what we ask from you. This must be completed at least two weeks before your session date.
• We ask for a register of children’s names at least one week before the workshop so that we can prepare the front covers of the pupils’ books. Please send a class list, including first names, surnames, and details of any additional needs / challenges to schools@grimmandco.co.uk. If you have any GDPR queries regarding this, please just get in touch and we are more than happy to share our policy with you.


If you have any further questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The very best of wishes from the team of staff and volunteers at Grimm & Co.