The literary style of Oliver Twist is ambitious, but it is important for us to expose pupils to heritage texts.

However, there are ways of making it more accessible. David and Emma from Bury Theatre Royal ran a vocal workshop with the students in Year 5 and Year 6 to show them that it is not just what you say, but how you say it, that makes all the difference. As a school we are developing the spoken language aspect of our English curriculum through this collaboration with the theatre.

This is the second of three projects for the year. The students really benefited from unpicking the characters and using fruit to describe how they might speak and act. The difference in their engagement with the book in class was immediate.