YOUNG performers dazzled under the spotlights while taking part in a project to raise their literacy levels.

Pegasus Theatre has been inspiring children from Oxfordshire primary schools to delve deep into their imagination and create performances based on stories from around the globe.

Pupils took to the stage of the Magdalen Road theatre in East Oxford to celebrate the success of its Tale Trail project by performing their masterpieces to family and friends.

The theatre’s youth arts leader Angharad Arnott Phillips said: “Oxfordshire is below average for literacy and we wanted to look at a project that would use the arts to work with schools with quite a diverse background of pupils.

“For us it’s important because it helps us access young people who don’t normally get to take part in these sorts of projects. I think there is a real power in using the arts for things like this. At Pegasus we feel everyone can be creative.”

The theatre worked with pupils between Year 3 and Year 5 at East Oxford Primary School, St Francis CofE Primary School, Rose Hill Primary School, Great Milton CofE School, Drayton Community Primary School and Millbrook School.

Two tutors began visiting schools in October to take the project from paper to stage in 11 weeks after receiving about £15,000 of funding from Artswork.

Children took inspiration from tales from Africa, Indian stories about jungles and their creatures, and German fairy tale The Water of Life to write scripts, make props and put on their performances.

Ms Arnott Phillips said the project helped transform the children, often improving their self-esteem and confidence levels when learning lines at home.

She added: “It was amazing. It was lovely to watch them work on it, they grew in confidence. There were young people who had never performed before but through the project discovered the real passion in the arts.”

The project’s next phase will begin in the autumn, with pupils performing their pieces next January.