The IW Story Festival team is passionate about giving as many children as possible the opportunity to meet authors, storytellers, poets, and performers in person. We believe this is one of the most powerful ways to raise aspirations and inspire young people through the magic of story in all its forms.

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However, we recognise that some families may never attend the story festival itself—whether due to financial, social, or cultural barriers. That’s why the IW Story Festival funds a diverse range of nationally known and local authors and other creatives to visit schools as part of our Stories in Schools programme.

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We focus on schools in areas with high levels of deprivation and, in consultation with each school, match artists to the needs identified. In 2025, we placed twenty-five visiting performers in thirteen Island schools, and the feedback from children, teachers, and performers was overwhelmingly positive.

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Lanesend Primary School shared:

“We wanted to say, on behalf of all our children and team at Lanesend, a huge thank you for organising such an amazing event. The children thoroughly enjoyed every visit, and all the authors and illustrators were fantastic!”

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Poet and author Kate Wakeling who went to four schools over her two day visit said:

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“I had a wonderful time at this warm and welcoming festival. It was a joy to meet and share poems with so many different children across the island. From talking to teachers at participating schools, I was struck by how many of the children don't have the opportunity to attend arts events or indeed travel beyond the island, so it was a special pleasure to be able to offer these workshops and see children engage so vivaciously with poetry – especially through the creation of their own (very excellent) poems."

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Ann Waters of Haylands Primary commented on Sue Bailey’s storytelling session:

“We really enjoyed the story festival in Reception at Haylands Primary. Here are some photos (shared with permission).”

Children said:

• “I liked feeding the old lady the pebble creatures.”

• “I liked the scary troll.”

• “The girl had a shell stuck to her—it was so funny.”

• “The gong bong didn’t make me jump. We loved it!”
   

 

 

 

 

 

Poet Paul Lyall said of his visit:

“As ever, I had the best time. The schools were brilliant.”

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Hannah Doyle from Oakfield Primary reflected:

“I particularly appreciated the message from all the authors—that ‘you can live adventures through stories, whatever your barriers might be.’ That’s such an important message for our children to hear!”

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Andrew Lee, author of Continuous Blinking,
ran a session on critical thinking that inspired this
poem by Alex M from Newport C of E School:

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Life is like a balloon,
it rises and falls,
yet in the darkness—
we hear the calls
of the intrusive thoughts,
the worries, the fears.
They infect your body
starting at your ears,
but you can fight them,
with good thoughts,
many and many, like a dinner
that’s multi-coursed
and if you do it long enough,
you will feel the light coming.
Yet is it really possible to know something?

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Each year, we reach between 3,000 and 4,000 children through Stories in Schools. We’d love to do even more—such as expanding into secondary schools, offering more author visits and running CPD sessions for teachers.

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Currently, this programme is funded through the generous support of local parish councils and private donors. If you would like to support our work, please email iwstoryfestival@gmail.com for more details.