As part of an ongoing programme of language research, the department of Children’s Dictionaries & Children’s Language Data at 51ºÚÁÏÍø has analysed children’s creative writing submitted to the BBC 500 WORDS story competition in 2023 and the results are out today!

You can find all the details about the winners of the 500 words story competition on the , and download the full for all the language analysis from OUP.

The analysis is undertaken by a team of lexicographers, editors and teachers, and is based on the Oxford Children’s Corpus, the largest children’s language database in English.

Key Findings from the Report

• Themes around contemporary conflicts feature more prominently in the stories than in previous years.
• There is a shift away from the topic of Brexit, with very few mentions of this word (and none in a political context).
• There is a substantial increase in the frequency of AI in the stories – often in relation to a dangerous entity that could take over the world.
• The stories indicate an increasing awareness of neurodiversity, and conditions are often portrayed as a strength.
• Barbie occurs twice as frequently in stories from 2023 than 2020.
• TikTok is seen as a more established app and part of everyday life in 2023.
• Lioness(es) increased in frequency compared with 2020, and over half of the mentions were in reference to football. In 2020, almost all mentions of lioness(es) were references to the animal.
• The 2023 stories are the first to demonstrate a lived experience of Covid in the UK, and the pandemic is evidently still a reference point for children.

Insights from the 2023 stories

• The proportion of boys and girls who submitted a story in 2023 was 39% and 61%respectively. Excluding names, words that are used much more frequently by boys than girls include: Madrid, titan, league, Godzilla and champions. Meanwhile, words that are used much more frequently by girls than boys include: gymnastics, pony, foal, makeup and tiara.
• Words that appear much more often in stories from the 5-7 age category than the 8-11 age category include: mammy, baddy and teddybear. Meanwhile, words that are used much more frequently in stories by children in the older age group than the younger age group include intrigue, commander and murder. Adverbs, including practically, seemingly and sincerely, are also used more frequently in this age group.
• Words which had much higher frequency in stories from 2023 than 2020 include seasonal trends such as pumpkin and Halloween, footballers such as Haaland and Raya, and animals such as capybara and axolotl. Camilla is also used much more often in stories from 2023 – both in reference to the Queen and as a general character name.
• Meanwhile, words which had much higher frequency in stories from 2020 than 2023 include ps4, bushfire, trump, Brexit and coronavirus.

Do check out the full report for more interesting facts about how children used language in the 2023 500 words competition, and congratulations and well done to everyone who took part and submitted a story, as well as to the well-deserved winners.Ìý

Blog: 4 top tips for writing great plots

Blog: 4 fun ways to develop characters for a short story

Blog: How to find the perfect words for your story

Blog: Using storytelling to help develop reading and writing skills

Mirabelle and the Midnight Feast

By Harriet Muncaster

Age 5+

If you’ve got an Isadora Moon fan who’s looking for their next read that’s full of magic, adventure and a little bit of mischief, meet Mirabelle! Isadora Moon’s naughty half-witch, half-fairy cousin has a whole chapter book series of her own for emerging readers to enjoy.

Like the Isadora Moon books, Mirabelle’s adventures are engaging and accessible stories to build reading confidence.

Mirabelle and the Midnight FeastÌýis a magical tale about friendship, siblings, and the importance of owning up to your mistakes. Will they be able to overcome their differences and come together for a midnight feast? Find out in this hilarious and heart-warming story.

Win Mirabelle and the Midnight Feast

For your chance to win one of three copies of Mirabelle and the Midnight Feast, we want to know who you and your child would invite to your own magical midnight feast. Comment on the pinned competition post on the Oxford Owl Facebook page with your answer to enter. Feel free to tag your feast friends so that they can join in the fun!

UK residents only. Entry closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 25th February 2024.

About the book

About the Author

Harriet Muncaster is the author and illustrator of the internationally bestselling Isadora Moon, Mirabelle and Emerald series of young reader books and the middle-grade Victoria Stitch series. So far Isadora Moon is available in thirty-seven different languages, including Spanish, Italian, Romanian and Korean, and is available as audio books. TheÌýIsadora Moon series won the El Corte Inglés Children’s Book of the Year in 2019 and has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

More from Oxford Owl

• with Mirabelle (PDF)
• (PDF)
• Isadora Moon activities, videos and more on Oxford Owl

Science Words for Little People

Written by Helen Mortimer and illustrated by Cristina Trapanese

Age 3+

Get ready to meet some science words you can use every day!

Created by the language experts at 51ºÚÁÏÍø, and informed by the Oxford Corpus of Children’s Language, these little books provide just the right words to explore science with even the littlest learners and to build their confidence with scientific vocabulary.

From the weather to space, discover and share all the words, facts, and meanings you need to talk about these fascinating topics together.

Win Big Words for Little people: Weather

To celebrate the publication of Weather, the latest Science Words for Little People book, we’re giving away all four books in the series to one lucky winner!

For your chance to win the books, head to the Oxford Owl Facebook page and comment on the competition post with your favourite weather emoji.

UK residents only. Entry closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 28th January 2024.

About the book

About the Author and Illustrator

Helen Mortimer has always loved words. After graduating, she placed her foot on the bottom rung of the publishing ladder and enjoyed every step of the climb until she had a fine view of the world of picture books!

Cristina Trapanese started studying illustration at the Italian School of Comix and later at the IDEA Academy in Rome. She loves painting and how it helps her learn how to manage colours, later discovering her passion for telling stories through images.

More from Oxford Owl

• The wonder of words: How learning new words can help your child (Blog)
• Building a strong vocabulary: How to help at home (Blog)
• Science for fun: Six super science activities to try at home (Article)
• Children’s Word of the Year 2023: Climate Change (Blog)

The Wild

Written and Illustrated by Yuval Zommer

Age 3+

Everything found a place in the Wild, and the Wild welcomed all…

Discover renowned illustrator Yuval Zommer’s latest magical creation, which delivers a powerful modern fairy tale about how our environment needs us just as much as we need it.

The Wild explores concepts of healing, wellbeing and our relationship with nature through mesmerising illustrations, to offer a hopeful message for readers big and small.

Win one of three copies of The Wild

Want to get your hands on a copy of this beautiful book? We’re giving away three copies! Plant a tree 🌳 emoji in the comments on the competition Facebook post for your chance to win.

UK residents only. Entry closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 26th November 2023.

About the book

About the Author

Yuval Zommer graduated from London’s Royal College of Art with an MA in Illustration. He then worked as a creative director at many leading advertising agencies but his passion for picture books won, and he is now the author and illustrator of highly acclaimed children’s books, including the internationally bestselling The Big Book series for Thames and Hudson.

More from Oxford Owl

• (Video)
• Talking about Climate change at home (Blog)
• Fun outdoor learning ideas (Blog)

Thunderboots

Written by Naomi Jones, Illustrated by Rebecca Ashdown

Age 3+

Join Trixie, a little, but VERY loud, girl, as she realises that what makes her different is what also makes her unique!

Thunderboots is an empowering story about starting school with dyslexia, inspired by the author Naomi Jones’s own experiences growing up. It uses a fun story and energetic illustrations to draw awareness to the challenges and strengths that little learners with dyslexia might experience.

We’ve developed this book with a school that specialises in teaching children with dyslexia to make sure it helps spread awareness about dyslexia in a positive way. It opens with a personal letter from Naomi that will encourage little ones to embrace their individual superpowers.

Win one of three copies of Thunderboots

Learning differently is Trixie’s superpower. What’s your child’s special superpower that makes them unique? Comment with your answer on the competition Facebook post for your chance to win one of three copies of Thunderboots.

UK residents only. Entry closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 29th October 2023.

About the book

About the Author and illustrator

Naomi Jones worked in children’s publishing for eight years before leaving to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. She is the acclaimed author of the picture book The Perfect Fit (OUP); its sequel One More Try, How to Catch a Rainbow (OUP), How to Make a Story (OUP), and The Odd Fish (Farshore). She lives in Cornwall near the sea.

Rebecca Ashdown studied illustration at Westminster University and Central Saint Martins, working as a graphic designer, vector illustrator and motion graphics artist, before becoming a full-time illustrator. Her books have been shortlisted for several awards including the Sheffield Book Award, the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the Portsmouth Book Award and Hillingdon Picture Book of the Year.

More from Oxford Owl

• Supporting struggling readers

Week one: Staying positive

“We should talk about learning new things in mathematics or developing confidence in reading, rather than the scores children are getting. If we focus our energy on children’s learning, the tests scores will take care of themselves.�

Hello, I’m James Clements. For ten years, I worked as a teacher and deputy head at a successful primary school in West London. For seven of those years I taught Year 6. As well as making sure the children I taught achieved their very best, a big part of my job was working with parents so that they could help their children in the final year of primary school. I’m also the parent of two small children.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to share some advice about how you can help your child to do their very best in the KS2 national tests and how these assessments can be approached so that they’re a positive experience for everyone involved.

A positive way to approach the tests

However we might feel about tests in primary school, it makes sense to approach them in a positive way with the children who are going to sit them. As a Year 6 teacher, these were the key messages I would try to share with the children and parents each year:

1. We should concentrate on skills and knowledge, rather than the tests themselves.

For one week in May, Year 6 children will be tested on their reading, mathematics, and grammar, punctuation and spelling. They’ll also have the standard of their writing assessed by teachers. This doesn’t give us a definitive answer about how good a child is at a particular subject or how good they’ll continue to be at it. It doesn’t tell us how accomplished they are in other important areas of the curriculum such as art, sport or music. What it gives is a snapshot of where the children are in these core areas of the curriculum on that particular day.

While we want children to do their best in the SATs, what is more important is whether they can do all of the things the tests are there to assess: do they have the skills and knowledge of English or maths that underpin the tests? As teachers and parents we should focus our efforts on improving children’s learning rather than simply the scores in the tests. We should talk about learning new things in mathematics or developing confidence in reading, rather than the scores children are getting. If we focus our energy on children’s learning, the tests scores will take care of themselves.

2. Children are not in competition with each other, but are trying to make progress from their own past performance.

One of the best things about being a Year 6 teacher is watching children become aware of the progress they are making in their learning. As children learn to do things they couldn’t do before or become faster or more efficient at something, it gives them a real sense of achievement. This sense of moving forward is a great feeling for children to have, especially as they set off for secondary school. I’ve found that it’s helpful to remind children that they’re not in competition with each other – all children have different aptitudes and begin the year from different starting points. Instead we want them to improve on their own performance, trying to learn new things and get better all the time.

3. SATs can provide an opportunity to prepare for secondary school.

As well as a chance to make sure all of the key knowledge is in place ready for secondary school, if approached positively, the national tests can help children to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes from working hard at something. Revising gives them the chance to return to any areas of the curriculum they might not have understood at the time. Working towards a target can also help to establish good study habits that will be useful to them at secondary school as they become increasingly independent.

In my Year 6 classroom we didn’t talk about ‘passing the SATs’ or ‘doing well in the tests’; we talked about learning new things and being ready for secondary school, a much more important focus.

Supporting the process as a parent

Anything we can do to help our children to make progress in their learning and see themselves as successful learners is going to hold them in good stead, both in the tests themselves and later at secondary school. The first steps in helping them might be:

1. Learning about the KS2 national tests and assessments.

You can find out more about the content of the tests on Oxford Owl, including support withÌýgrammar, punctuation and spellingÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýmathematics. The Department for Education has produced someÌýÌýthat explain the national tests.

2. Find out the areas of the curriculum in which your child feels confident and where they feel they might need some extra support.

If you haven’t already, you might also want to talk to their class teacher about your child’s progress and how they think you could best support them. It makes sense for the child, parent and school to be working together towards the same aims.

More tips from Oxford Owl

• KS2 SATs advice and help for parents: more detail about each of the tests and tips on supporting your child
• µþ°ù´Ç·É²õ±ðÌýBond SATs Skills workbooks and flashcards

Three years ago, my 8 year old daughter came home from school in tears. Between her sobs, I learned that she had been told that her overzealous use of glue stick meant that her kids would die in 2050. As a climate change communicator for over a decade, I realised how urgently our young people needed more support with the climate emergency.

Over the past few years, climate change has become increasingly prominent, with warnings in the news, school strikes, posters warning of a countdown to extinction… While many UK children, and adults, could until relatively recently hide or be protected from the truth of what we face, this is changing, particularly with increased access to media and smart devices.

Climate anxiety is on the rise, with almost half of young people worldwide in a 2021 survey saying that eco-anxiety negatively impacts their everyday life. Climate education remains largely absent from our schools and children are increasingly seeking answers.

And so, it falls to adults like you and me (parents, carers, teachers, scout leaders…) to think carefully about how we engage our children and have the important conversations which will prepare them to survive and thrive.

It can be hard to do this well, and very easy to cause extra anxiety. So, what have I learnt in the last three years about how we should engage, in a way that is honest, but also safe and empowering?

Start with yourself and put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.

Psychotherapist Jo McAndrews describes children as our Bluetooth speaker: whatever state we are in, children are likely to pick up on and amplify it. When we are in an ungrounded state, we find it harder to respond to situations in the clear-headed, creative, and sensitive way that a good climate conversation requires. Creating emotional connection with others is key to discussing difficult things, and to be able to connect effectively, we need to be in a calm and grounded state.

Ways to start:

• • Find ways to look after your own emotional wellbeing, get the support you need and ‘build a village’ of supportive others around you. This might be other parents/carers/teachers in your community, or you might look to wider established networks, like .
  • Find good sources of information to have at your fingertips; you will inevitably be asked questions you cannot answer. Check out , a website created by a nonpartisan group of climate scientists and mothers.
  • And importantly, think through what action you want to take yourself to tackle the climate crisis, so you don’t project your own need to do something onto the young people looking to you for guidance.

If you need professional support, many therapists are aware of eco-anxiety and groups like the offer tailored support.

For under 7s, you don’t need to mention climate change.

Climate Change is a complex idea. Instead, focus on nurturing young children’s innate biophilia, encouraging a love of the natural world around them and lay the important groundwork.

Jump in puddles, feed ducks, make rainbows, collect autumn leaves.

Starting tips:

• • Use books and music to introduce, normalise and inspire. Stories don’t have to be overtly environmental in theme; one of my personal favourites is Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Ugly Five, which teaches the intrinsic value of the world’s less beautiful beasts. In Clean Up!, by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola, we meet feisty and loveable Rocket as she pulls a community together to clean up the litter-strewn island where her grandparents live.Ìý For a list of books which feature lead characters from diverse ethnic backgrounds, key to building the inclusive environmental movement of the future, see . Favourite music includes the songs of and anything by Australian ‘ecological edutainment’ trio, . Make it fun, by having a dance!
  • Lead by example and explain your actions. Small children notice our everyday actions, and we can add to their learning by taking the time to verbalise our intentions. Talk about why you put things in the recycling bin or leave the autumn leaves on the ground in the garden.
  • Start proactively building the skills children will need as they grow up. Build trust, interpersonal skills, emotional literacy. Start with .

For 7-11s, a good message is that ‘lots of adults are working on it, but if you want to help, here are some ideas for how you can’.

As children get older, they are much more likely to start encountering the idea and language of climate change. We cannot protect them from it, but we can accompany them and help them find their own way and build their resilience.

Starting tips:

• • When supporting their learning about the environment, start with what they know already, and build basic knowledge from there.
  • Offer a variety of actions that are relevant to their everyday lives. You can find six areas of action, with accessible and concrete ideas in the . Make sure you also ask THEM for their ideas. They’ll have great ones and be much more engaged if action comes from them.
  • Use the power of stories from all over the world; borrow stories from other struggles of how people overcame great odds. And ask them how they think the story should end. A few books to try include:

1. 1. 1. Dr Mya-Rose Craig’s We have a dream: 30 stories of young indigenous people and people of colour around the world taking action to protect the planet
      2. Tim Allman & Nick Shepherd’s Max takes a stand: the accessible and light-hearted fictional tale of Max, who wakes up one morning and realises BIG CHANGE is needed right now
      3. Georgina Stevens’s Stella and the Seagull: a picture book about one small girl’s campaign to clean up the beach.

• • Emphasise the importance of talking about how they feel, to enable the processing of emotions, and let them know that all feelings are welcome, however messy, contradictory, and changeable they may be. There are a range of tools you can use to encourage and enable emotional literacy, including emotions cards and ‘the anger iceberg’, and modelling this yourself can really help.
  • Be honest and open. Relationships built on trust are key to building resilience in young people. At the same time, it’s important to be mindful of what you expose them to and try to keep information to what they need to know.
  • Emphasise it is okay not to have all the answers, and that it is okay if they don’t want to take action or join the youth strike. Show them how to search for reliable information.

A couple of closing thoughts

It’s OK to get it wrong. None of us will get it right all the time but taking the time to think about how you engage is a great first step.

Don’t go it alone. Having a supportive network to draw on, and for any child to draw on, is priceless.

Google is your friend. Keep learning and accept you will not have all the answers.

Good parenting and teaching is activism.Ìý You do not need to be engaging in any formal climate activism to be doing important work. Building strong and supportive connections matters, and as Jo McAndrews says, just holding a baby is contributing to a better future.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF. The climate crisis is scary, and this is a hard time to care for children. Any engagement with others will be far more effective if you are looking after your own needs too.

Ìý

In 2019 our son took his GCSEs – sitting actual exams. Two years later it was his A levels, without exams. In the summer of 2022 our daughter is taking her GCSEs (which are expected to be exams for the first time since 2019). So, from a parent’s perspective, what has that been like? Clearly every child, and every parent and carer will have different experiences. This blog attempts to encapsulate mine.

I vividly recall our son taking his GCSEs in the summer of 2019. This generation are sitting more exams, occupying more hours, than ever before. It was a daunting prospect for him – and for us as parents. Vast amounts to revise, practise and memorise. And whilst his at home revision began in the February, the in-school exam preparation started much earlier. So, whilst he was very familiar with the task and its scale, that didn’t mean that sitting down and revising (and before that planning the revision) was any easier, or any more appealing. Putting off creating the plan, and then putting off actually starting revising, was the first big challenge.

However, he did get into the routine of revising each night – not necessarily for long, but doing it regularly, and with a plan to cover everything that needed to be condensed and memorised. Ensuring he had the space (in every sense) to revise; managing the inevitable tensions in the house as the exams approached; providing metaphorical stick and carrot; in fact planning our lives around it all, was all part of that 5 months. I probably felt more anxious than he did – and trying not to convey that was key. With hindsight I shouldn’t have worried as much – the school provides a huge amount of guidance, structure and support around revision.

Once the weeks of exams were over, little did he know, they would be the last formal exams he would take at school. Nine months later, his A level studies came to an abrupt halt at the end of March 2020. That period of learning (or not) is well documented, so skipping to the final few months, how could he choose universities to apply for when he couldn’t visit them? Were the exams on or off? What evidence would the school want for TAGs? How seriously would he take the additional in-school testing? And how, in the end, would he be able to say farewell to his school and friends that he’d had for so many years? Our role, as parents, again was to listen, support, motivate, cajole, and feed.

But now he is at university and for us as parents it begins again. One term into Year 11, and our daughter is currently taking mocks. Motivating her to do revision has been hard – she struggles to see the point. She’s missed so much time in school over the past 22 months; she’s missed so much normal routine. Maybe she might have felt this way had the pandemic not happened, but it certainly hasn’t helped. So, we have the same fundamental parental role again: to support her, keep her safe, healthy and motivated. We’re also ensuring she has fun, and reassuring her that everything will be ok. Drawing from what we learnt with her brother, and making sure she concentrates on herself rather than on any comparisons, will hopefully stand her and us in good stead for the coming months.