Houghton-le-Spring Community Nursery School commissioned two local practitioners – the award-winning author Simon Bartram and musician Paul Mullen – to work with the children for a five-month period on the project ‘Audio authors’.

The aim of the project was for the children to work collaboratively to imagine, create and develop their own audio book. Simon helped the children develop their own characters that formed the basis of a story, whilst Paul worked with teachers, parents and the pupils to capture their stories in audio form using Dictaphones.

The project was designed to enable parents, children and staff to work together to address the priorities from the School Improvement Plan, whilst developing communication, language and literacy skills. The project also enhanced knowledge and understanding, in addition to reading and writing skills across the nursery.

Further key areas of attainment included the use of 3D model making materials and taking on leadership roles. There was a real impact on the children’s creative skill development, with pupils becoming more confident as the project progressed.

The project supported children in thinking and talking imaginatively with their families, allowing analysis of how children are more vocal in the home environment. Parents became particularly engaged with the digital technology element of the project, and this had a knock-on effect on improving children’s writing skills.

At the end of the project, a celebration event saw the final story being presented in the school’s outdoor learning space. Each child was also presented with a CD of their story to take home.

The learning and resources produced through the project have become part of the school’s overall approach to learning. Teachers who were not directly involved have been given access to the material produced and made aware of the project’s developments and outcomes.


Sasha and the Aliens

Children describe where their ideas come from.

My ideas come from puddles

Pupils from primary schools in County Durham experiment with voice work from the Ninedots project 'Voices'.

ninedots