Myth-behaving. Radipole Pupils create new Greek legends
Gods, demi-gods, monsters, mortals, and thin skinned deities interfering in the affairs of humans. The themes and tropes of the classic greek tales were the starting point for our new story anthology project featuring a host of Year 6 writers from Radipole Primary School.
Watch out for CYBERTRON!
Join us to discover what happens in the new story from Class 3B at Radipole Primary School. The lightning strike of the Cybertron available to read now in our library, and you can even come up with your own ending…
An Invitation to Become a Trustee
The Bank of Dreams and Nightmares is looking for thoughtful, committed people to join our board.
We work with children and young people in rural West Dorset, creating space for creativity, critical thinking, and original ideas at a time when those skills matter more than ever. As a trustee, you will help guide a small, ambitious charity doing work that is human, urgent, and quietly radical. In particular we are looking for people with experience in corporate fundraising, leadership and educationalists excited about making change.
You do not need previous trustee experience. You do need to care about children, creativity, and the future we are shaping together.
Find out more by reading the recruitment pack attached
Grumpy Bank Manager
Here at The Bank of Dreams & Nightmares we have always wanted to have our own real life bank, but until that happens our grumpy Bank Manager keeps tabs on what we are doing by calling on the BANK PHONE! We are super excited as the very kind people at OPIS-TECH have donated three extra phones for us to use.
Witness The Heroic Adventures of Cow-Toyahming: Alien Evader
The students of Hazel Class at Mountjoy School took us on an incredible journey in their tale of alien abduction, walking fruit and pink milkshake! Taking a character the class had previously invented, they wanted to see what happened next to our bovine investigator. It was a huge amount of fun to follow this character and see where their story took them.
Featured Volunteer - Lizzie
“I was a bit nervous signing up for the Induction, worried that I might not fit in, but I could not have been more wrong. I just loved the energy and immediately felt a sense of belonging. Then came the workshops… bonkers, brilliant and so empowering! Modern society poses all sorts of challenges for the young and to address this we need opportunities to communicate, collaborate and problem solve, to be innovative and creative. “
Songbank Recording
The brilliant young writers at Salway Ash primary school took a trip to Echotown Studios to record their Acapella songs. This was the culmination of six weeks of workshops with Claire Shaw and a team of volunteer story mentors to create unique and powerful songs and poems for a published CD recording in February.
Survive anything!
Everyone was excited that the Bank Manager was actually going to be making a visit in person to Radipole Primary School, but this all changed when she rang to tell us that she had managed to lock herself in the VAULT…
After school clubs are back!
The after school clubs are back for another term, read on to find out more about Podcasting, The Writers’ account and The Vault
After school club funding!
We are incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Reaching Communities for their belief in our work and for awarding us three years of funding to support The Bank of Dreams & Nightmares.
This funding means we can continue to run our three after-school clubs completely free of charge, removing cost as a barrier for children who need creative spaces the most. These clubs are often where young people first find the confidence to share their ideas, take risks with their writing, and realise that their voice matters.
“On Politics and Potatoes” is officially launched!
Libraries have always been the petri dishes for political ideology and last night an extraordinary group of young writers gathered to celebrate the launch of their new book, “On Politics and Potatoes - How to Start a Political Party and Change the World”.
An Amazing Catastrophe!
The Year 3s from Badger Class at Salway Ash Primary let their imaginations run riot this week as they wrote a brand new story featuring Junior, an eagle-winged onion in his battle against the Evil Pizza.
Mountjoy Museum Takeover!
Ash Class from Mountjoy School in Beaminster took over the reins of Bridport Museum this morning for a personally curated exhibition. The group has worked very hard over the last month handpicking pieces from the museum or its archive that they wanted to champion. Watch the film here
Cow Toyahming - Criminal Milkshake Mastermind
We had a brilliant morning working at Mountjoy School on a character creation workshop this week. Working with Hazel class was a real privilege and the character they came up with was absolutely extraordinary.
Who’s been leaving their things lying around all over the bank?
Would you believe it? Someone’s only gone and left all their stuff lying around the Bank! We were interrupted while working with a brilliant bunch of Year Threes at Radipole Primary School this week. The Bank Manager had found various items littering his office, chucked around the canteen and even strewn around the vaults themselves! Fortunately, we were able to brighten his mood by working with the classes 3B and 3H to discover just who this forgetful character was.
Thomas Hardye School get on the air with Podcasting workshops
Over the past six weeks, we’ve had a great time running a series of podcasting workshops with a brilliant group of Year 9 and 10 students from Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester. Their energy, thoughtfulness, and willingness to dive into new creative territory made the project something truly special.
Stu-Bart Nitwit: French Firefighting Cyborg
Once again we got to work with an enthusiastic group of Year 3s from Octopus Class in Beaminster St Mary’s Academy on creating an unforgettable character. The session was packed with imagination, collaboration, and plenty of unexpected twists. Together, the group created the extraordinary Stu-Bart Nitwit — a French human/cat/cyborg hybrid firefighter with a flair for the dramatic.
Roar for Your Candidate: Young Voices Crown the Next King of the Jungle
We were back on the campaign trail again this week - this time in Radipole Primary School in Weymouth, working with an absurdly talented group of Year 4 pupils. There was a power vacuum in the forest - the king was missing, and it was up to us to elect a new leader.
They’re electing the dogs! They’re electing the cats…
Uh-oh! The King of the jungle has gone missing! Luckily a highly persuasive group of students from Mountjoy School in Beaminster were on hand to help us elect a new leader to unite the jungle community.
From and To… the creative art of story making at the BAC
This week, the Bridport Arts Centre became a hive of imagination as we got to work with a very talented bunch of young people, running a story-making workshop as part of Laura Eldret’s From and To installation . The exhibition space, which was already alive with Eldret’s themes of exchange, community, and shared experience, proved to be the perfect setting for a session dedicated to creativity and collective storytelling.