Lewisham Story Festival

From 14th - 20th September the inaugural Lewisham Story Festival will take place across the borough to encourage local children and their parents to come together and celebrate different forms of stories and storytelling.

The festival is being run by Story Matters, a not-for-profit community interest company based in Lewisham. From the 14th - 18th, Story Matters will be working with primary schools in the borough to help struggling children in danger of becoming disengaged with learning to find their voice, grow in confidence and stay motivated.

The free Family Weekend on the 19th & 20th September, attended by authors such as Tracey Corderoy, Paul Stickland, Lyn Gardner and Lissa Evans as well as storytellers, poets, artists and dancers, will provide an opportunity for families to have fun with stories together, and for parents to discover easy ways to use story making to support learning at home.

Story Matters is the brainchild of Katherine Perry, a Lewisham parent, who saw the potential behind using a variety of different approaches to storytelling as a way to help children succeed at school and in life.

She commented, "Volunteering at a local primary school made me understand the problems for children struggling to read and understand stories; how detrimental this could be to their self-esteem, and how repeated failure damaged their resilience and wellbeing, and led to a disengagement with learning. By modelling stories and storytelling in creative ways with children, their teachers and their parents/carers, we can help children to find their voice, break down the barriers to learning, grow in confidence and become more successful at school and in life."

Paul Redden, Centre Manager at Lewisham Shopping said, “We are delighted to be supporting Lewisham’s Story Festival and hosting the Story of a Lewisham Child sculpture in the centre. The festival offers the Lewisham community a chance to enjoy a day out with the whole family and experience a range of cultural activities, such as story-telling and poetry. I encourage everyone to come along and see what’s on offer!”

Story Matters work in vibrant, diverse and complex inner-city areas, where children can be disadvantaged by social, economic and emotional barriers to success. Through they work they do with story and storytelling they can give children the tools to break down these barriers and shorten achievement gaps. They rely on grants, sponsorship and donations to fund community projects.

For interview requests please contact Laura Vile on [email protected]. Donations to the project can be made at: https://localgiving.com/charity/storymatters and more information can be found at www.storyfestival.co.uk

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