Students at Redcar & Cleveland College have been picking up some unusual skills to help them in the world of work from trained Community Animateurs.

 

The students, who are all studying BTEC National Diploma in Children’s Care, Learning and Development (Level 3), have been working with the college’s team of Community Animateurs to learn how to make and use story sacks.

 

A story sack is a special prop used by teachers and carers to make stories more interesting and interactive for young children. It is a large bag containing a children’s book with supporting props and scenery that parents, carers and other adults can use to bring the story to life. The students are learning to use the special story-telling technique by pulling objects such as toys, musical instruments and other props out of the brightly coloured ‘story sack’.

 

The students on the course are all studying to learn skills that will help them in their future careers in childcare.

 

The college’s specially trained Community Animateurs hold regular story-telling sessions throughout the area where parents can bring their children along so they can experience the magic of story-telling with the story sacks for themselves. The sessions are ideal for children of any age.

 

Lucy Gates, one of the students on the course, enjoyed her experience of learning how to make and use story sacks. She said: “It was great to learn a new way to engage children and help bring stories to life for them. We’re all looking forward to putting the new skills into practice.”

 

Michael Kinder, who is the Big Lottery Fund co-ordinator at Redcar & Cleveland College, has co-ordinated the sessions for the students. He said, “Family literacy is a very important issue and this is a great way to get children involved in story-telling and make it a fun and engaging experience for children and adults. Our Community Animateurs team is out and about across the area every day of the week entertaining children at local libraries, but it’s great that they can pass on these skills to the students at the college as well.”

 

The Community Animateurs can be found in libraries across the borough during the week. Their schedule is:

 

 

R&CC students storytelling

Left-to-right: Jenna-May Rose, Ben Murrell and Lucy Gates.