Fulham Pupils Excel at Storytelling Competition
Two top prizes for local primary school children
Idris (left) and Mia (right) with their prize certificates
February 19, 2024
Two Year 6 pupils at local primary schools have won prizes at the recent southern StorySLAM final held earlier this month.
This is an annual competition run by United Learning for pupils in Years 5 and 6, which challenges them to write their own 200-300 word stories and then perform in front of their peers. Inspired by a similar event which began in New York, the aim of the competition is to develop children’s creativity, confidence and literacy skills in a supportive and fun environment.
Idris, who attends Fulham Primary School, was awarded prize for ‘Overall Winner’ whilst Mia, a pupil at Langford Primary, took home the prize for ‘Best Line’.
The event was hosted by Fulham Primary School for the first time.
Idris impressed judges with his story about a young girl who worked with a bookseller to become a successful author. Meanwhile, Mia bagged the prize for ‘Best Line’ in her story ‘The Samurai and the Empress’. Both pupils received a certificate and a selection of books.
This year, 36 primary schools from across the country took part in the competition. The first stage began in each of the participating schools as the children wrote and later performed their stories in front of their classmates and teachers before a school champion was crowned.
Following this, the winners took up their places in one of three regional finals in the South, Midlands and North, where they performed their stories to an expert panel of judges, including children’s storyteller Kevin Graal. At each of the final events, pupils also participated in a storytelling workshop, led by Kevin.
The finalists’ stories will now be collated and published in the United Learning StorySLAM 2024 Anthology. A copy of this will be sent to each participating school.
Idris said afterwards, “I am proud to represent my school and to be the winner of StorySLAM. As soon as I heard about the competition, I was excited to take part and really hoped I would win. The competition was tough and there was some fantastic storytellers. I think in the end my actual story helped me to win and I feel very happy about that.”
John Lynch, Head of School at Fulham Primary School added, “We all feel incredibly proud of Idris’ achievement. He worked very hard on his story, writing it at home and performing it to his friends during breaktimes. He was excited to be able to share it with so many other children from different schools. It felt particularly special as he won when our own school was hosting the competition. Congratulations Idris!’’
Mia said, “I am so happy and proud to have won.”
Victoria Kidds, Head of School at Langford Primary said, “We are incredibly proud of Mia. She is a very talented writer, and we look forward to reading more of her stories in the future.”
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