"The Story Maker’s Writing Mats are super - loads of grammatical knowledge applied in context with good examples. Teachers use the story mountain a lot and the additional support on the mats, eg sentence starters are a good extension. There are endless ideas – a broad and rich resource. I particularly like the differentiation between the mats." - Sue Cove, Literacy Consultant, Cumbria LEA
"The Story Maker’s Writing Mats were eye-catching and engaging for all the children across the school. For narrative they provide ideas, vocabulary and reminders of what to do. They are just as innovative as The Story Maker’s Chest and we will certainly be investing in some for the school. They are cost-effective and come in suitable class sizes for either groups or pairs. The levelled story mountains and sequencing worked particularly well - especially with the boys. Children effectively referred to them during their work. They were used in 2 ways: as guided writing and as a resource on tables after
shared writing. Overall a great resource!" - Susan Cupples, Literacy Co-ordinator, West Acton Primary School, London
"All elements of the Story Maker’s Creative Writing Mat help not only the child, but the teacher as an aide-memoire ... This is definitely a resource to extend and stretch able children in Y2 when working independently … There are many wonderful ‘teacher tips’ which could be used when teaching story writing – so maybe this is an easy aide-memoire for teachers too!" - Liz Broadbent, Deputy Head and Literacy Manager, Balksbury Infant School, Andover, Hants
"We used the 2 lower Story Maker’s Creative Writing Mats with Y2 and 3. Both classes used them with the higher ability children and found them useful. The mats need to be around whenever story writing is being undertaken as the children need to appreciate the range of ideas to be found and this takes time.
… Children very stimulated by visual presentation … most useful: ideas for stories, how to plan a story etc.
The Story Maker’s Writing Mat is an excellent new resource to support quality writing in an exciting and stimulating way. [It had a] positive impact: it helped to build structures, provide ideas, speed up process, stop writer’s blank, and it was fun to use." - Adrian Chorlton, Asst Head Teacher, Grovelands Primary School, Hailsham, East Sussex
"The ‘ideas’ side of the Story Maker’s Writing Mat may help me to think of story ideas. I like the ideas of lists of characters [and] the planning side would be very useful ... I can imagine using it to brainstorm ideas instead of using a planning template. I can see their use as a planning tool, certainly in KS2. I also like the idea of the checklists for punctuation, etc." - Marianne Ray, Literacy Co-ordinator, Shrivenham Primary School, Swindon
"Writing Mat was greeted with much enthusiasm by the children. It is wonderfully attractive and really helped inspire their imagination." - Christine Round, Deputy Head and Literacy Manager, Weston-under-Penyard Primary School
"
… The teachers’ notes were helpful and necessarily concise in this format, but of similar high quality to the Chest … The story ideas worked best as this is the area where children experience most difficulty at times – ie getting started. As with the Chest, the resource was well received … it contains all you need. The organisational support the resource offers children is excellent. I could envisage both Mats and Chest becoming central English language resources. Indeed, the Chest features in the reference section of our developing new planners …" - Brian Buchanan, Deputy Head, Girvan Primary School, South Ayrshire