7 September 2020 – Squirrel Learning, the school improvement and digital learning service, and Story Wars, the educational creative writing platform, have merged to help schools, teachers and parents use digital educational technology to enhance the online learning experience. As Covid-19 has changed the way we communicate across the globe, one of the main areas to feel this shift is education and what is known as the edutech sector. Moreover, unlike any other school year before, educators have to re-evaluate the way they approach teaching.
The Story Wars and Squirrel Learning partnership will provide the companies with access to education professionals with a district sales capability to provide next-level training and development. Both companies believe that merging Squirrel Learning’s professional development services and classroom expertise with Story Wars’ products for engaging young writers will create new opportunities.
Merged under the name Squirrel Learning
“Story Wars and Squirrel Learning are a perfect mix,” said Story Wars owner, Thomas Andersson. “We have a wide range of applications and consultants who can help schools, teachers, and parents to use digital solutions in the best way.” Story Wars and Squirrel Learning will now be working closely together on developing new resources, including the development of an all-age approach to the teaching of writing skills. The new Squirrel Learning suite of GoApps, including GoRead and GoWrite, will be aligned with the existing Story Wars products to ensure that writing skills are built on from Early Years to secondary and young adult writers.
“Our goal is to provide young people with access to learning opportunities no matter where they are,” said Gavin Hawkins, co-founder and director, Squirrel Learning. “With this exciting new merger, we will be using the power and appeal of Story Wars to connect classrooms and work with educators to achieve measurable gains for students.”
Through Squirrel Learning products like GoWrite, learners of all ages can become published writers. Each project undertaken within GoWrite and Story Wars will have a publishing component to ensure that all writers have access to their work in a physical hard-copy book and a digital alternative.
Squirrel Learning provides education technology curriculum and services to schools and district councils throughout the United Kingdom and educational consulting services around the cross-curricular use of technology, outdoor activities, resilience building, and citizenship programs.
GoRead
The recently developed GoRead, a digital reading record for use within school and at home, is a direct result of the challenges posed by Covid-19, where there is a requirement to lessen the need to pass books and materials between home and school. Through GoRead, all students within a school will have their own account, making it easy to keep a continuous record of all their reading books, teacher comments, help files, videos, and parental support materials.
“This coming academic year poses a unique set of challenges for schools, teachers, students and parents,” says Andersson. “Our joint aim is to offer support in the form of digital interventions, professional development opportunities, exciting and imaginative content and products and supportive approaches to parental engagement to ensure that all young people have the best chance to succeed whether working at home, school, or through a hybrid model of online learning.”
The merger increases the capacity to develop future products within the GoApps suite, such as mathematical problem solving, citizen science, personal development, and well-being.
Squirrel Learning and Story Wars
Based in the UK, Squirrel Learning believes that all young people deserve access to a balanced curriculum of opportunity, with support and challenge. They work to support schools and educators to ensure that young people have access to inspirational, engaging and rewarding digital and non-digital activities, with supportive and impactful interventions. Their work with schools focuses on improving young people’s educational outcomes by ensuring a skilled and confident workforce, innovative and creative uses of technology supported by imaginative and resourceful approaches to the curriculum.
Story Wars is a Swedish company established in 2015 to deliver creative writing platforms to schools, teachers, libraries, and parents. Its platforms include www.storywars.net, www.storyduel.com, www.storywarskids.com, with approximately 80,000 registered users worldwide and an online meeting tool www.storywarstalk.com.
