Does this look familiar? For most of us, this has been the only way to connect with our elders over the last few months.

Our Stories Now reconnects children with their elders through storytelling. Absolutely Education speaks to its founder, Cosima Shaw

A big thank you to all the Year 5 children, parents and most importantly, their storyteller grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles and aunts who who have generously shared their memories, wisdom and stories over the last weeks.

The start to a new academic year always signals new beginnings, even for us adults, I find. Time to map out the next twelve months and hunker down in order to start realising those plans as the days begin to draw in.

After having delivered 50 copies of the 8th ‘edition’ of OUR STORIES (by Year 5 of Princess Frederica) I have yet again to say thank you to all who participated and were generous with their stories and memories.

Today OUR STORIES remembers the many lives and stories lost in wars and conflict around the world.

The year is already drawing to a close, with children well into the second half of the autumn term. OUR STORIES has been taking a bit of a break, but is looking ahead to any prospective collaborations with primary schools across London.

Here is an extract from our interviews with some Maple Walk grandparents in 2017 talking about their memories of school holidays. (Edited by Rachel Shelley)

It is nice to see our efforts recognised as we all need a bit of positive affirmation, but what is even better is to get the sense that the idea of intergenerational storytelling at primary school level is gaining traction. Photo by Patrick Tomasso

Here is a clip of the Year 5 children at Malorees Junior School talking about their diverse backgrounds.

Story soundbites from our two days at Malorees. Photo: Matt Botsford/Unsplash

Here is another taste of Our Stories’ foray into audio from our sessions at Malorees Junior School back in November.

During November and December 2017 OUR STORIES returned to Malorees Primary School.

Thank you for all your stories! The book has been printed, the playlist forwarded and everyone involved should be very, very proud of the result.

I am proud to report that OUR STORIES has been invited back to Maple Walk this week, where I got to meet the children in Year 6 as well as their teacher, Mrs Partridge.

I’ve been inspired by research that suggests knowing the intimate facts of our family histories makes us more healthy emotionally. Photo by Laura Fuhrmann/ Unsplash

After months of organising, story sharing and mounting of material and images, two beautiful books have been created with the combined efforts of the grandparents, children, parents, teachers of Years 3 and 4 and myself.

A few days ago the children of years 3 and 4 of St. Joseph’s Primary School in Maida Vale were introduced to Our Stories. Photo by Kimberley Farmer/ Unsplash