In 2025, Team Literacy Tree began a consultation with Early Years practitioners that led to the development of a brand-new Early Years resource. Supported by careful discussion and research, we launched Story Saplings in January 2026. With another of our Story Saplings for the awesome These Are My Rocks by Bethan Woollvin launching this week we're reflecting on the journey that led to this new Early Years resource.

Explore Story Saplings

Why were Story Saplings developed?

A central element of the Literacy Tree process for developing resources includes keeping ahead of research and being informed by best practice. The changing landscape of education is no stranger to us as experienced educators and since the inception of our reception Writing Roots, much has changed in the world of Early Years education. Now, mixed nursery and reception cohorts utilise Literacy Tree resources for their youngest learners too, phonics approaches are rigorously embedded with fidelity to particular schemes and children entering school often have greater communication and language needs. We listened to our Literacy Tree teachers, spent time researching, and created a new pedagogy with the unique Early Years environment and expert practitioners at its heart; Start With a Story was born. 

In its early iterations, the Story Sapling was a ‘garden of learning’. Practitioners would unlock and open the door to a literary landscape through the Adult Led Learning. From there, practitioners could explore as they saw fit for their cohort, setting and timetable. We value professional autonomy and it’s crucial that teachers have the freedom to adapt planning for the needs of their children. Over time, the format evolved but the core principle stayed the same; this is an exploratory, imaginative and flexible approach to literacy in the Early Years that can be adapted to all settings.

How were Story Saplings developed?

In addition to the expert knowledge within the Literacy Tree team, we drew on our incredible wealth of knowledge in the form of Literacy Tree flagship schools and those that have used our approach for a long time. We wanted our Early Years resource to retain the familiar Literacy Tree style and be rooted in a book-based pedagogy. The working party has contributed many hours and ideas to the development of Story Saplings and for this we are very grateful. 

Taking insights from the working party forward, this was truly a team effort within Literacy Tree; from conversations around design and language to the way in which we shared this resource with schools. At the heart of it all is evidence and research. We have used government guidance such as The Writing Framework and Development Matters, as well as Oftsed’s Strong foundations in the first years of school, and research and reports from The Educational Endowment Fund.

How do Story Saplings differ from Writing Roots?

Many of our schools love and use our reception Writing Roots with incredible impact, which you can see for yourself by looking at our work samples. The two resources offer different routes to the same destination: competent, confident and creative writers. The graphic below offers a closer look at both approaches. 

What's next for Story Saplings?

A selection of existing Writing Roots will be reimagined as Story Saplings. Schools that love the new format will be able to seamlessly transition to it, or toggle between the two approaches throughout the year, if this suits. In this way, the Literacy Tree Early Years resources continue to offer flexibility and professional autonomy with pedagogies that both begin with books. We are also very excited to be adding a range of new texts! Team Literacy Tree take the business of book selection very seriously and, as can be seen on the poster below, some text selections have been made whilst others are still pending. 

We will be hosting our first Start with a Story pedagogy workshop in autumn 2026, when we will exemplify the pedagogy through one of our Story Saplings. 

If you can’t wait to get started, but need a little more guidance, you can book a fifteen-minute live planning call and one of our team can help you to get started on your Story Sapling journey. As with our training offer, this is free to members. 

Come back for our next blog where we dive deeper into how you might use and adapt a Story Sapling in your setting! 

If you’ve already begun using Story Saplings we’d love to hear from you! You can reach out to the resources team on resources@literacytree.com