September 2021 Parenta magazine

Book review : “Using stories
to support learning and
development in early childhood”
Congratulations
to all our Parenta learners!
Helen Lumgair’s new book “Using Stories to
Support Learning and Development in Early
Childhood” is an inspiring and practical
kaleidoscope of insight from different story
professionals. I am in there singing the
praises of sensory stories of course, and
Helen kindly included a sensory story of
mine for readers to explore themselves. It
is based on the marvellous letters written
by celebrities and notable persons of the
time to the children of Troy when their
library burned down, letters, that like this
book, expounded the value of exploring
narratives in order to educate, enrich and
nurture oneself.
As someone who regularly talks about how
important sharing stories is, not purely for
entertainment but for mental well-being,
education and your community, it was
wonderful to read the words of so many
people singing from the same hymn Sheet
as me. I loved Helen’s ‘why’ of “because
the stories of others compose the very
threads of the universal fabric that connects
us, allowing us to glimpse the humanity,
the personhood of these so-called others”.
Stories as the threads that the universal
fabric of connection is made out of, how
wonderful is that? And don’t they deserve
closer inspection, those threads? Imagine
how beautiful a fabric we could weave with
greater understanding of our craft.
Through the pages of this book, that
understanding is provided by a raft of
different authors. Helen herself looks at
stories as a whole-body process, exploring
their relevance for the development of
cognition in early childhood. Kanella
Boukouvala tackles metaphor and Helen
Garnett looks at play.
Dr Jo Van Herwegen tackles the initially
surprising topic of stories and mathematics,
surely stories belong in literacy and maths
belongs in numeracy? But Dr Herwegen
shows how mathematical understanding
can be built through sharing stories, listing
in her chapter stories that work well for
different mathematical topics.
Dr Valerie Lovegreen explores stories in
relation to language and cognition, noting
the many linguistic skills that storytelling
can develop and also recognising
storytelling’s impact on self-confidence
and our understanding of the emotions
of others. Understanding others is a topic
Helen returns to as she looks at the role
stories play in countering prejudice and
supporting identity in her chapter ‘Diversity
and Representation in stories’, and again
their benefits to us beyond our literary skills
and understanding are examined as Helen
explores their role in healing with powerful
testimony from people who have found
stories to help them as they coped with
trauma.
Helen ends the book as powerfully as it
begins with the words “At a time when
the world feels increasingly fragmented,
experiencing what would appear to be
an epidemic of loneliness caused by
advances in technology and a decline in
real connection, it would make sense to
focus on facilitating the growth of excellent
communicators who contribute to society
as listeners, speakers, critical thinkers and
evaluators of the information presented to
them. What we are aiming for in all of our
educating is for children to become creative
citizens who prioritise connection with
others and act in a compassionate manner
as individuals who construct peaceful lives
and in turn peaceful societies”. This book
will certainly help you strive towards this
noble aim.
Written by
Joanna Grace
Congratulations to all these Parenta learners who completed their apprenticeship
in July and have now gained their qualifications.
These range from Childcare Level 2, Childcare Level 3 and Team Leading
to Level 3 and Level 5 Management – that’s a huge achievement in the
current climate.
All that hard work has paid off – well done from all of us here at Parenta Training!
Did you know?... Parenta has trained over 20,000 apprentices within the early years sector!
Our Level 3 success rate overall is almost 10% higher than the national average.
That’s down to great work from you, our lovely Parenta learners!
If you have a learner with us who has recently completed their apprenticeship, please send in
a picture to hello@parenta.com to be included in the magazine.
A. Amponsa
A. Arduini
C. Kibbey
C. Shellard
C. Vieira-Figueira
C. Fulford
July’s wall of fame!
D. Leggett
E. Howes
E. Jones
E. Seaton
F. Battley
J. Bull
K. Baxter-Leggett
L. Martin
M. Mains
R. Price
R. Marks
S. Kemp
32 September 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | September 2021 33