Meet Our Champions
Storyplay Champions
Licketyspit Storyplay Champions are parents, carers, children and professionals who are experts in Storyplay and support our family imaginary play sessions.
They include Volunteers who have trained with Licketyspit, and families who have been coming to Storyplay sessions for some time and now help host sessions and welcome new families to the storyplay way! Find out more by clicking on the linked words.
Licketyspit Ambassadors
We also have Ambassadors who work in education, child development and children’s rights policy – who advocate for our work and the Storyplay approach.
You can read some of their testimonies below.
Tam Baillie
Former Commissioner for Children and Young People
“I love the work of Licketyspit. It manages to provide great theatre with children and really positive engagement with parents. For me, Licketyspit is more than just a marvellous children’s theatre company: they are a vital spark, igniting imaginations and unleashing creative energies in children and families. They see hope and potential in every child, every parent, every community. I am proud to be an ambassador for Licketyspit.”
Professor Tina Bruce CBE
Early Childhood Education
and Froebel expert
“It is always easy to be carried away by inspirational work with young children. It is necessary to take a long hard look in the cold light of day. Licketyspit has undertaken careful evaluation of the impact of its work, and what emerges is exciting. It helps and develops children’s learning in important ways for their educational development, but my interest is in the particular ability it demonstrates to engage very young children in both’ narrative’ and ‘character’, the two most essential ingredients of literature and creative writing. Without these there would be no literature, either of the oral tradition through storytelling and drama, or the literature that is set down for audiences to read. I have worked to encourage this in young children, and to engage their parents and families in understanding the importance of this deeply human way of high level functioning across the years.
“The work of Licketyspit (LicketyLeap) is of a depth and calibre which has the kind of quality which is rarely found. It now need to become part of practice in every group setting working with children 3-7 years. The more parents and practitioners understand and act on the work of Licketyspit, the more young children will be given educational experiences which will serve them well for the rest of their lives.”
Madeline McGeachie
Head Teacher, St Mary’s R.C. Primary School, Maryhill, Glasgow
“Licketyspit provided an ideal opportunity to develop literacy through fun and imaginative play. Children and their families have participated in various play activities and loved the creative and amusing settings that have encouraged the children to think creatively and communicate imaginatively with each other.
“Research has shown the power of parental involvement in children’s learning and this has been a strong element of the programme through the Porridge and Play sessions. Children are very excited about the programme and eager to communicate their thoughts and ideas. Children who would normally be reluctant to contribute to discussions are willingly offering ideas and solutions as they are caught up in the imaginative world of Licketyspit.
“This has been a very exciting and eventful couple of weeks and has had a noticeable impact on children’s literacy and engagement”.
You can read about Storyplay at St Mary’s here.
Ann Moore
Head Teacher, Canal View Primary School, Westerhailes, Edinburgh
“There was a huge increase in parental participation in school in an area where that isn’t easy ….it was so relaxed and so easy. They could see their children having fun yet you could see there was a lot of learning going on there. In areas like this, the data tells us the big barrier to attainment is the lack of vocabulary among children. A programme like this really addressed that – using words to describe things, using your imagination, using your creativity, and no ‘right’ and ‘wrong answers’.
“It fits in beautifully with the Growth Mind-set approach – trying things out, making mistakes is ok –it gave our children a lot of confidence and a lot of space to explore words, vocabulary, feelings, stories and that invaluable stuff that we really need, to make a difference. If we can intervene in children’s lives early enough to make a difference, this is where we have to start.”
