If you’re interested in children’s listening and attention, audio stories, literacy and all things audio, then you should pay a visit to our Pinterest page. We regularly pin information, websites, articles and blogs to a variety of boards all covering the above subjects.

If you’d like to know about the benefits children gain from listening to audio books then take a look at our ‘Why Audio’ board.

If you’re interested in finding some websites offering good quality free audio resources then our ‘Audio Resources’ board will be helpful.

We post ideas about ways to use StoryPhones on our ‘Using StoryPhones’ board and you’ll find lots of information about all of the publishers and content providers we work with on our ‘Download Store’ Board.

You can visit our our Pinterest page at www.pinterest.com/storyphones and please feel free to repin anything you find interesting.

Much interest has been generated recently by the Bradshaw family’s attempt to spend the year only buying and using British products. The BBC have recently broadcast several articles about their project and the efforts this family are having to make to only buy British. Naturally, the Bradshaw family have initiated a lot of discussion about British made products and manufacture and we are very proud that StoryPhones has been developed, designed and manufactured all in the UK.

StoryPhones is the product of British creativity, design and manufacture. The original concept and prototypes were created by Simon and Eleanor Johnson in conjunction with a Newcastle upon Tyne design company, Octo Design. The bespoke electronics and firmware were designed by Simon Johnson, the StoryPhones software being developed to our specification by Internetware, again a North East company. The plastic mouldings for our MP3 players have always been produced by DS Moulds Ltd in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham and they worked with us from the beginning of the StoryPhones project to help with prototyping the plastics.

All of our MP3 Headsets, audio systems and Little Listener MP3 players are manufactured in Britain, originally in Lancaster and from 2010 by Opsol UK, a manufacturing company based in Cramlington, Northumberland. All of our packaging and printed materials are sourced from UK companies.

Not only is StoryPhones a British product but we are very pleased to be working with many leading British publishers and content providers.

If you’d like to know more about our British made MP3 players, you can visit our product pages or why not give us a call on 0845 652 0906.

On the 18th September we visited Cairellot Children’s Centre, at Bishopton in Renfrewshire to lead a StoryPhones training session. We were so lucky with the weather bearing in mind how awful it was just a week later and we had a glorious drive across the Cheviots and up through the borders of Scotland.

We have never visited Cairellot Children’s Centre before, however, we count Rosie Elliot and her team as old friends since we’ve been in touch with them for the last two years. Rosie has been a champion of StoryPhones since she bought a system several years ago and has provided several references and case studies for us. We were excited to meet everyone and to see StoryPhones in action.

It was a very good training session, we always try to run a relaxed, interactive session and encourage everyone to join in, ask questions and eat sweets! Cairellot’s training room was an ideal venue and Gillian kept us well organised with tea and coffee. I was so pleased when Linda, a senior practitioner at Cairellot agreed to come up and share their StoryPhones activities with our delegates. Linda and her team make great use of their system and encourage the children to incorporate the Headsets and loud speaking player into their play and activities. Linda was keen to empasise how easy to use the players were, how rugged they were and how the children’s storytelling, creativity and listening skills had impoved

Linda also agreed to talk about Cairellot’s experiences with StoryPhones and to let us record this. Here’s Linda’s interview Cairellot Interview September 2012

So… a big thank you to Rosie, Linda and Gillian and everyone at Cairellot.

BETT is one of the biggest educational ICT shows in the world. There are hundreds of exhibitors to visit and it’s well worth planning your visit in advance. To help you make the most of your visit and make sure you see some of the best suppliers and exhibitors at the show, you can download the BETT Trail App. The App provides information about these exhibitors, tells you all about their new products and has a competition to enter. As you are visiting the exhibitors, register this on your app and find out the answer to a simple question, there’ll be lots of friendly stand staff to help. To enter the prize draw, simply upload your score along with your details and you may win a prize.

Download the App here, pay a visit our stand, G245 and don’t forget to ask us the answer to our question!

It’s hard to believe that another year has passed and we are now busy preparing for our fifth visit to BETT, one of the world’s largest educational ICT exhibition and conference. If you are a visitor or an exhibitor, BETT is always an exciting event, the atmosphere is  busy, lively and vibrant. There’s also an expansive programme of seminars and training events on offer with opportunities to learn about the latest ideas, thoughts and technologies. This year, BETT will be held for the first time at ExCel, London, situated in the heart of London’s Royal Docks.

Visit StoryPhones – Stand G245

New for 2013

We have some exciting new features and updates to tell you about!

* New 2GB memory StoryPhones players

* New Personal MP3 players for home users

* Improved recording feature with immediate playback

* 100’s of new audio books and resources in the StoryPhones download store, including titles from AudioGo(BBC), Usborne Books and Barefoot Books

* Increased compatibility with different audio formats. As well as MP3 and WAV, you can now add WMA, M4A, AAC, M4B, OGG and AMR audio files on your StoryPhones MP3 players

* New web shop for online purchasing

We’ll have a warm welcome for you when you visit our stand, and we”ll look forward to meeting everyone there!

The aim of this conference is to help delegates understand the needs of those with dyslexia and to gain insight into ways of supporting them. Anyone working with or supports children, young people and adults with dyslexia are invited to attend this exciting conference and take part in workshops and talks led by highly knowledgeable and experienced speakers.

The key note speakers include Neil MacKay. Previously Senior Teacher/SENCO in a large secondary school in North Wales and now an independent consultant and trainer, Neil is the originator of the phrase and the concept “Dyslexia Friendly Schools.  He now works with schools across the UK and abroad to develop inclusive practice. In his keynote, he will share his experience in noticing and responding to dyslexic learning types.

The second key note speaker, June Todd has 22 years of experience as a head teacher and is now a very successful consultant. Her training is delivered from her breadth of experience and also from the heart as she shares her beliefs. Her training sessions present strategies, information and resources that can be used to raise achievement and improve teaching and learning which come together to provide a focus on school improvement. Her keynote will focus on how to make schools dyslexia friendly places.

Workshop leaders

Neil and June will also be leading workshops at the conference and they will be joined by more experts in the field.

Judith Wolfe (AMBDA) is co author of ‘Dyslexia A Practical Guide for Teachers and Parents’ (David Fulton), is a specialist teacher in Dyslexia and presently a Secondary SENCo in St. Wilfrid’s RC College S. Tyneside. She is a member of the SENCo Forum Advisory Group and PATOSS (Professional Association for Teachers and Assessors of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD).

Helen Irving (AMBDA) has over thirty years of experience as a specialist teacher in Special Educational Needs (SEN) in schools across all key stages, a specialist teacher in Dyslexia, advisory teacher, trainer and training manager for SEN for Sunderland Authority and more recently an associate tutor for dyslexia with Edge Hill University.  She is presently an independent consultant and trainer in a wide range of special needs issues with a particular emphasis on dyslexia.

Mike Stansfield is presently manager of the Medical & Physical Disabilities Support Team in Sunderland Authority. He has a special interest and knowledge in ICT which supports children and young people with learning difficulties, including Dyslexia. He regularly delivers local and regional training on specific programmes and resources (including the use of iPads).

Shelley Hughes is a regional speaker and representative for Pearson Assessment. She regularly speaks to audiences on assessment including Working Memory Rating Scale (WMRS) and Cogmed Working Memory Training which is a computer-based solution for attention problems caused by poor working memory.

The conference will also include an exhibition of leading providers of resources for supporting individuals with dyslexia and StoryPhones is delighted to be part of this exhibition and exciting conference.

For more information please contact Margaret Parsons on 0191 515 2145 or margaret.parsons@sunderland.ac.uk

Barefoot Books offer children a bright, colourful world of stories, rhymes, sing-along songs, and dance-along dances. Children’s imaginations can wander through a world of traditional tales and new stories written especially for Barefoot Books and bounce along to songs and rhymes. These lovely stories and rhymes are a delight to share, read and listen along too.

At the heart of all Barefoot Books is the love of traditional oral story telling which is reflected in the audio stories which accompany their books. Many of the stories draw on traditional tales from around the world, using words, music and song to give children a sense of the rich, diverse world they are growing up in.

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of 36 Barefoot Books titles into our download store. If you own a StoryPhones MP3 audio system or Little Listener, you can now download a treasure trove of audio stories from Barefoot Books!

Your children can listen to traditional tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Gigantic Turnip or enjoy stories from around the world. There is a huge selection of sing along stories to join in with and new stories to explore. Download prices start from £2.99 and include permission for use throughout your school, nursery or setting on your StoryPhones systems and players.

Stories from Usborne Books have been delighting children for years and we’re pleased to announce that we have now added 53 new audio titles from this wonderful Children’s Publisher of the Year 2012.

Farmyard Tales

Usborne Books have a reputation for publishing engaging stories for children of all ages and the Farmyard Tales series is no exception. Set on Appletree Farm, Mrs Boot, Poppy and Sam introduce children to a delightful range of quirky animal characters. These audio stories are beautifully narrated with sound effects adding to the listening experience and bring these stories and characters alive. Each audio story only lasts a few minutes making them ideal for younger children still  developing their active listening skills. Your children will want to listen time and time again, and the characters of Appletree Farm will become firm favorites. All 20 titles are now available in the download store, priced at £2.00 each.

Young Reading Series

The Young Reading Series audio books feature traditional tales, new stories and carefully written shortened versions of classic children’s stories. Suitable for older children, these stories introduce children to longer stories and chapter books.

Young Reading audio stories contain two readings: a dramatic listen-along version with music, sound effects and superbly narrated, and a read-along version, with a page-turn prompts, for the child to listen to while following the story in the book. All 33 titles are available in the download, priced £5.00 each.

Series One titles contain several short stories or one story divided into chapters.

Series Two titles mostly contain a single story divided into chapters.

Series Three titles are single stories with more complex plots. The audio stories are divided into chapters.

You can find out more about all of these titles and to listen to clips on our download store. Click on the blue world button at the bottom of your StoryPhones software to enter the BookShelf download store. Every download includes a site license for you to listen to the story throughout your setting.

Visit us on Stand 155,

Business Design Centre, Islington. Exhibition is open 10.00 till 5.00 on both days

We are looking forward to exhibiting at the TES Special Educational Needs Show next week. Our MP3 Headsets and loud speaking players make listening an easy, accessible activity. They’re rugged too, very good for the rough and tumble of everyday use.

If you are visiting the Exhibition, please call into Stand 155 to try our StoryPhones MP3 audio systems and loud speaking players. StoryPhones MP3 players are:

robust, wire free, rechargeable, switch accessible and can…

play automatically, allow personalised access to the function buttons, play in groups, record and give children…

independent access to audio resources, support story telling and reading development, encourage speaking and listening skills, and we have…

child friendly software, a very good advice and support service, endless enthusiasm for supporting children’s learning and education!

We will look forward to meeting you.

Different styles of music can have a profound effect on the mood and behaviour of babies and young children.

Ami Tomake is an exquisite set of tracks composed especially with babies and young children in mind and based on the melody of an ancient traditional Bengali lullaby.

Award winning composer, Steve Luck has written Ami Tomake in accordance with current research into the effect that music has on the human body. Slow tempos can actually alter the brainwaves, promoting a calm, meditative state which in turn slows the breathing and heart rate.

Steve has produced two versions of Ami Tomake. The first track has vocals which translate as ‘I love you dear baby’ and the soothing lullaby vocal melody is accompanied by lush orchestral strings, harp and solo flute. The tempo matches that of the resting human heart rate and the music is arranged in a gently lilting ¾ time signature. The orchestration was chosen to provide natural sounding instruments which most closely resemble some of the sounds a baby hears in the womb. The track features sublime vocals from acclaimed singers Eloise Hodder and Lesley Roley.

The second track, ‘The Ami Tomake Suite’ has been produced in response to demand for a purely instrumental version of the original composition. It features the beautiful flute work of Tom Lovatt, more to the fore playing the melody of the lullaby as well as an extended arrangement containing new musical material not included in the original Ami Tomake.

Ami Tomake relaxation music is ideal for babies and children when you want to create a time of quiet, calm and stillness and perfect for settling babies and little ones at nap time.

We are delighted that this lovely, gentle music is now available for our StoryPhones settings to buy from our BookShelf download store. You can listen here to a clip of Ami Tomake here.

Ami Tomake relaxation music with vocals: download cost £10.00

Ami Tomake Suite, instrumental relaxation music: download cost £10.00

Ami Tomake Delux Edition including vocal and instrumental version: download cost £16.00

Don’t forget your purchase includes a site license giving you permission to play Ami Tomake throughout your setting on your StoryPhones system!