Education Today Education Today Magazine
A trailblazing wellbeing and literacy programme is being extended to up to 150 schools across Bradford following a successful pilot in the city.
The Story Project has been awarded a new £510,000 investment from SHINE to expand its transformative programme to nursery, primary and secondary schools across Bradford over the next three years.
The new funding follows the publication of a second annual independent evaluation, which found that children across Bradford who used The Story Project saw marked improvements in their wellbeing, emotional literacy and empathy, alongside gains in reading skills.
The grant will enable schools that were not part of the original SHINE-funded pilot to implement The Story Project in their classrooms, with the ambition of reaching 150 Bradford nursery, primary and secondary schools by July 2029.
The wellbeing levels of Bradford’s children and young people demonstrate the need for interventions like The Story Project.
The Born in Bradford project has found a significant proportion of Bradford teenagers report clinical threshold levels of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, with many also reporting self-harm.
Meanwhile, teenagers as young as 13 years old in the city use social media apps for three hours every day on average and one-in-three Bradford children don’t play outdoors after school.
Olivia Richards, founder of The Story Project, said: “It has been a privilege to work alongside so many fantastic teachers in Bradford to help improve children’s wellbeing and literacy. We are thrilled with the impact the programme is having in the area and look forward to continuing to support more children across the next three years too.”
A newly published ImpactEd evaluation gathered evidence from 997 pupils and 53 teachers across 12 primary schools participating in the Bradford pilot programme.
Tracking progress from 2023 to 2025, the evaluation compared year-on-year data as the programme became more deeply embedded in schools.
ImpactEd concluded children who used The Story Project saw a significant improvement in wellbeing outcomes across multiple measures. It found pupils’ emotional and wellbeing vocabulary had clearly improved, enabling them to navigate the world more openly and begin to solve their own emotional challenges.
Teacher ratings of pupils’ wellbeing and emotional vocabulary as Good or Excellent rose from 27.8 per cent to 85.5 per cent, while ratings for the quality of wellbeing discussions increased from 48.2 per cent to 92.7 per cent.
The proportion of pupils who knew who to approach for help increased from 60.9 per cent to 73.0 per cent.
Teacher ratings of pupils’ empathy as Good or Excellent rose from 21.8 per cent to 71.6 per cent.
Perceived literacy gains were also significant, with teachers rating reading and comprehension skills as Good or Excellent increasing from 34.6 per cent before the programme to 64.5 per cent afterwards.
Teachers also reported that pupils were more willing to share feelings and reflect on their own lives through stories.
The evaluation found that teachers benefitted substantially from implementing the programme, reporting increased confidence and competence in supporting pupil wellbeing.
The proportion of teachers who agreed they understood how to reduce gaps in pupils’ wellbeing knowledge rose from 45.3 per cent to 86.8 per cent, and those who felt equipped to handle challenging PSHE and RSHE discussions increased by 50.9 percentage points.
Teachers described embedding The Story Project’s strategies beyond designated sessions, adapting lesson planning structures for subjects including English and RE, and using resources across the wider curriculum.
A member of the Education Advisor Team at Bradford Council said schools found the resources to be of high quality and reported that the programme had reduced workload while positively impacting children’s confidence and use of language.
Teachers described the approach as transformative. One Bradford teacher said it had boosted children’s confidence in speaking and listening, enriched their vocabulary and fostered a love of reading, while another described a ripple effect with a profound impact on resilience and aspirations.
Pupils themselves reported what they had learned from The Story Project. A Year 2 pupil shared: “It’s OK to make mistakes… Sometimes you just need to talk to someone.” A Year 5 pupil reflected: “Mental well-being is basically just taking care of your mind… [The mind] is just as important.”
The Story Project uses story-based learning to build children’s wellbeing and literacy skills. Through teacher training and high-quality resources linked to diverse children’s books, the programme enables structured exploration of characters and emotions.
By using stories to create safe spaces for discussion, pupils learn to understand, manage and express complex emotions while addressing real-life issues such as bereavement, online safety and financial worries.
Fiona Spellman, CEO of SHINE, said: “The recent schools White Paper makes clear the need to ensure a broader range of challenges can be met in the classroom. The Story Project offers practical, affordable ways for schools to unlock the keys to pupil success, with the latest evaluation showing powerful gains in pupils’ emotional vocabulary, empathy and confidence, as well as encouraging feedback from teachers regarding literacy gains.
“We are very excited to be able to expand this programme across Bradford over the coming years, as well as build on the rigour of the evidence collated so far.”