All the reading and writing activities work towards learning objectives from the National Curriculum English Programme of Study: Key Stages 2 & 3. The development of pupil's reading habits and love of books contributes to higher attainment in national tests in English grammar, punctuation and spelling; and the adventure journal that each child compiles throughout the experience will provide a rich source of evidence for 'pupil can statements' in statutory teacher assessments.
Storyhaven addresses the following Key Stage 2 English reading skill requirements for year 5 & 6:
“Pupils should be reading widely and frequently, outside as well as in school, for pleasure and information.”
Storyhaven harnesses the power of a shared reading experience within pupils' peer groups to drive their private reading habits at home and make them feel part of the club of reading and books, which many can feel excluded from.
Storyhaven is especially powerful for reluctant readers as it breaks up the narrative into shorter, richly illustrated chunks of text, consumed over a mobile or tablet through the popular game mechanics that many children will be familiar with from video games.
Pupils should understand what they read by: checking that the story makes sense to them; discussing their understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context; asking questions to improve their understanding and drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence; predicting what might happen from details stated and implied and summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph.
By making the pupils the protagonists of the story, so that they have to work together as a team to complete the reading game, Storyhaven elicits these comprehension tactics naturally and in a purposeful way that maintains the children’s motivation and enthusiasm for the tasks.
Pupils should be able to explain their understanding of what they have read, maintaining a focus on the topic using notes where necessary to provide reasoned justifications for their views.
Storyhaven’s device of the adventure journal, in which children must keep a track of the development of their reading adventure - their money, stamina, clues and belongings - builds the note-taking skills, so important to academic success.
Pupils’ confidence, enjoyment and mastery of language should be extended through public speaking, performance and debate.
Storyhaven stimulates group discussion and roleplaying in an immersed and playful environment, leading up to delivering the stories they have written to a professional actor, who will thrillingly reflect their creativity back at them through improvisation and immersive theatre, boosting the children’s confidence in their own creative voices.
Pupils should be taught to maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by continuing to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, plays, and reference books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes.
Storyhaven is a new narrative form, designed to be enjoyed on tablets and mobiles, in which the story is deliberately structured to take into account a modern child audience across both private and social spheres. As such it raises fascinating questions of form and audience that the children can engage with as active co-researchers.
Pupils should increase their familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions.
Storyhaven deliberately weaves diversity into its storyline in its idea of families of different cultures and origins having travelled across a futuristic ice-age Earth to arrive at the town gates, bringing with them the varied richness of their family's stories. It alludes to different traditions of world storytelling, as well as opening up gaps in its story for participation by a diverse pupil classroom, in which everybody is invited to make the narrative their own.
Storyhaven addresses the following Key Stage 2 English writing skill requirements for year 5 & 6:
Pupils should be taught to plan their writing by identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own.
Storyhaven weaves writing tasks and models into its developing storyline, so the purpose of the tasks and their audience is clear and the children are motivated towards completing them.
In writing narratives, pupils should consider how authors have developed characters and settings in what they have read, listened to or seen performed.
Storyhaven invites children into participating and co-creating its own storyline as they adventure through it, so they gain a more active understanding of story mechanics from inside the narrative.
Pupils should be taught to assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing.
As the children’s writing and decision-making has real implications for the development of the storyline, Storyhaven encourages such assessment in a purposeful way that children can understand and feel motivated by.
In narratives, pupils should be taught to describe settings, characters and atmosphere and integrate dialogue to convey character and advance the action.
As pupils will be undertaking writing tasks within a rich new story world, surrounded by characters they are actively interacting with, the description of setting, character, atmosphere and dialogue will come more naturally to them.
Statutory requirement: to perform their own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume, and movement so that meaning is clear.
The performance of the children’s compositions will take place within the narrative, through immersive livestream connections with an actor who is skilled at encouraging children to achieve intonation, volume and movement that is richly appropriate to the story moments.
To access the materials, teacher's notes and training sessions you will need to purchase access to them here:
If you're not ready to purchase the materials yet, your students can still begin engaging with the story world for free by exploring an interactive map of Storyhaven. You could also give them the address www.storyhaven.app to visit on their own devices at home to test their enthusiasm for playing the game.
To join our mailing list, enter your email address: