June works across all age groups. In her sessions she can deliver performances or workshops.
Her specialitity is the popular 'Story Fair' Workshop which involves a whole class of Upper Key Stage 2 listening to stories, learning stories and telling to Key Stage 1 - all in one day.
woodford green school 2012
Here are some comments made during 4 days at
Woodford green .
prep school for their Arts Fortnight 2011, themed ‘On the
Move’
I told ‘Kibungo’, a story which can be found in ‘The singing
sack’ A and C black. Edited by Helen East to Vena’s Y 2
class. Vena Davies said ‘After we heard June tell Rain
Forest Story, I said to the children 'thats the best story I
have ever heard.' I thought it had everything in it. It was fun and entertaining with lots of
things for the children to join in with. But afterwards, I thought ‘There were deep meanings
too. Then realised that the things I really enjoyed were in the skill of the storytelling.’
‘the games reminded me of when our grandmother used to play with us’
Here are some general evaluation comments from Woodford Green Prep School. Arts
fortnight 2010 – Circus
'Fantastic as always. The children love her.'
'Fantastic – just what we need.'
'Very enjoyable. June is absolutely brilliant.'
'Once again, the highlight of the week. She is fantastic. The children loved the stories and they
even remembered stories she told in past years.'
My 45 minute session with the reception class was a piece I worked out with my friend
fantastic north wales based storyteller Fiona Collins. We were commissioned to do a piece for
a festival at the Battersea Arts Centre called ‘The Festival of the Senses’. It was Fiona’s
brilliant idea to do a version of the ancient Indian fable of the blind men and the elephant.
While I was walking by Wimbledon common I got the idea of creating soundscapes, and
during that period of time Loughborough Infant school, Brixton where I was working at the
time put on a staff inservice on Batik, so I made a series of foldy fabric images to accompany
the story. It’s the closest thing to theatre that I do. The children just enjoyed the story, but
the head teacher noticed why:
Jacqueline Hart (head teacher)
‘the reception session covered a range of learning styles. Some children will remember
through the sound effects and the soundscapes they all made together, some will remember
through the physicality of walking on the imaginary journey and the drama of entering the
darkness of the forest and some will remember because they sang the song.’
Later in the week, I told ‘the story sack’ in assembly with 150 children aged 3 – 11. I have
heard this Korean story many times, and read many versions of it and never been able to tell
it. Then I heard lovely Nell Pheonix tell it at her storytelling club in Kentish Town, London. She
made it alive and funny and accessible. I combined it with a little introduction about my own
story bags, and bags the children might hold special, then I picked 3 Y 6 children to come and
pretend be stories trapped in the story bag. I knew the little ones would love to see the big
ones showing off. And I was right. When I pretended to hang the three Y6s on the wall, the
big ones hammed and the little ones laughed and the story was going really well until I
realized I had lost my audience! There was laughter but not for the story. The children’s
attention was to the skylights above us. There were three builders on the roof. All you could
see were their legs and bottoms with low slung trousers. The roars of laughter grew. I
waited to see if they were going to go away. They continued to walk back and fore no sign of
leaving. I knew I couldn’t compete with builders bottoms, so I laughed as well. Then I moved
the imaginary sack of Y6 hams across the hall to the other side. All early years attention was
back on the adored Y6s, all backs were to the builders and we were back on track.
Here’s what the Headteacher Jacqueline Hart said
‘Really good behaviour management. To get attention back and to do it gently.’
At the end of the week, I did my speciality. ‘Storyfair’. It’s a whole day workshop for one or
two classes of the oldest children. The children workshop with me first thing, rehearse with
their teachers before lunch and then perform for the early years of the school in the
afternoon. It’s a great day and I’ve never known it fail.
Here is what Y5 teacher Andy Conde has said:
‘We’ve all been on courses about the importance of pace and timing, but you seem to have
an intuitive sense of what the children need at any particular time in order to gain and to hold
their attention.
This workshop gives children drive. It gives them motivation. They respond because they
become the teacher. They are the older ones. They are given responsibility and they respond
by taking responsibility.’'
Woodford green .
prep school for their Arts Fortnight 2011, themed ‘On the
Move’
I told ‘Kibungo’, a story which can be found in ‘The singing
sack’ A and C black. Edited by Helen East to Vena’s Y 2
class. Vena Davies said ‘After we heard June tell Rain
Forest Story, I said to the children 'thats the best story I
have ever heard.' I thought it had everything in it. It was fun and entertaining with lots of
things for the children to join in with. But afterwards, I thought ‘There were deep meanings
too. Then realised that the things I really enjoyed were in the skill of the storytelling.’
‘the games reminded me of when our grandmother used to play with us’
Here are some general evaluation comments from Woodford Green Prep School. Arts
fortnight 2010 – Circus
'Fantastic as always. The children love her.'
'Fantastic – just what we need.'
'Very enjoyable. June is absolutely brilliant.'
'Once again, the highlight of the week. She is fantastic. The children loved the stories and they
even remembered stories she told in past years.'
My 45 minute session with the reception class was a piece I worked out with my friend
fantastic north wales based storyteller Fiona Collins. We were commissioned to do a piece for
a festival at the Battersea Arts Centre called ‘The Festival of the Senses’. It was Fiona’s
brilliant idea to do a version of the ancient Indian fable of the blind men and the elephant.
While I was walking by Wimbledon common I got the idea of creating soundscapes, and
during that period of time Loughborough Infant school, Brixton where I was working at the
time put on a staff inservice on Batik, so I made a series of foldy fabric images to accompany
the story. It’s the closest thing to theatre that I do. The children just enjoyed the story, but
the head teacher noticed why:
Jacqueline Hart (head teacher)
‘the reception session covered a range of learning styles. Some children will remember
through the sound effects and the soundscapes they all made together, some will remember
through the physicality of walking on the imaginary journey and the drama of entering the
darkness of the forest and some will remember because they sang the song.’
Later in the week, I told ‘the story sack’ in assembly with 150 children aged 3 – 11. I have
heard this Korean story many times, and read many versions of it and never been able to tell
it. Then I heard lovely Nell Pheonix tell it at her storytelling club in Kentish Town, London. She
made it alive and funny and accessible. I combined it with a little introduction about my own
story bags, and bags the children might hold special, then I picked 3 Y 6 children to come and
pretend be stories trapped in the story bag. I knew the little ones would love to see the big
ones showing off. And I was right. When I pretended to hang the three Y6s on the wall, the
big ones hammed and the little ones laughed and the story was going really well until I
realized I had lost my audience! There was laughter but not for the story. The children’s
attention was to the skylights above us. There were three builders on the roof. All you could
see were their legs and bottoms with low slung trousers. The roars of laughter grew. I
waited to see if they were going to go away. They continued to walk back and fore no sign of
leaving. I knew I couldn’t compete with builders bottoms, so I laughed as well. Then I moved
the imaginary sack of Y6 hams across the hall to the other side. All early years attention was
back on the adored Y6s, all backs were to the builders and we were back on track.
Here’s what the Headteacher Jacqueline Hart said
‘Really good behaviour management. To get attention back and to do it gently.’
At the end of the week, I did my speciality. ‘Storyfair’. It’s a whole day workshop for one or
two classes of the oldest children. The children workshop with me first thing, rehearse with
their teachers before lunch and then perform for the early years of the school in the
afternoon. It’s a great day and I’ve never known it fail.
Here is what Y5 teacher Andy Conde has said:
‘We’ve all been on courses about the importance of pace and timing, but you seem to have
an intuitive sense of what the children need at any particular time in order to gain and to hold
their attention.
This workshop gives children drive. It gives them motivation. They respond because they
become the teacher. They are the older ones. They are given responsibility and they respond
by taking responsibility.’'