We sat down and spoke with Amy Leahy, Principal at Mother Theresa Primary School in Mt Ridley, Victoria, Australia, about her experience using Story Box Library at the school.

1. How did you hear about Story Box Library?

I think I first came across Story Box [Library] through hearing a story either on the radio or in the newspaper. I am not entirely sure, but I had been looking at it for a while. I first purchased it for my family at home, before taking up the free trial during remote learning in Term 2 for our school. 

2. Did you use Story Box Library during periods of remote learning for your school?

We used Story Box [Library] across the school during remote learning. It was a fantastic resource to enable students and their families to engage with quality Australian literature, as well as teachers using it as a resource to plan students learning. 

3. Were there any groups of students who found Story Box Library particularly useful for their learning?

We found many of our families engaged with Story Box [Library] outside of specific learning opportunities. It gave them an option to access and read books together, particularly when access to libraries and books was challenging. We found families enjoyed the variety of books to read together. 

4. How was Story Box Library received by your wider school families and has it been used by families at home outside of school-based learning activities?

At this stage we will continue to use Story Box [Library] into 2021. It is a great tool for families of backgrounds other than English to engage in stories together. We also find it has many books that connect to our inquiry topics. It is great the way that the books on Story Box [Library] cover a wide variety of topics, including Indigenous stories, wellbeing, friendships, families and special events such as ANZAC Day. We also use Story Box [Library] as a way for students to hear stories in a different way, through oral retelling and it has become part of their independent learning opportunities. We like setting up playlists as well, so students can easily find specific texts we would like them to engage with. 

5. Would you recommend Story Box Library to educators who might not have come across it before?

I would definitely and have recommended Story Box [Library] to other educators. 

Read more here on Storytelling in the Classroom: A Teacher’s Reflection.