Write On! Adventures in Creative Writing:

The Regional Creative Writing In Education Programme of the Birmingham Book Festival

1. Introduction

Write On! Adventures in Writing is the Birmingham Book Festival’s regional creative writing in education programme. Its work is largely concerned with organising professional writers to work with groups of children, teachers and parents/carers in schools. It also develops other creative writing in education projects in various community settings. Write On! is part funded by Arts Council England, with other funding coming from local authorities or directly from schools. Write On! was launched in 2001 and works with over sixty schools a years across the West Midlands region, both Primary and Secondary. It is one of the UK’s leading writing in education programmes and is regularly used as a model for work elsewhere in the country.

2. Write On! 2008 – 2010 Our Write On! programme for 2008 – 2010 has the following main strands:

• Write On! Schools – this is our longstanding programme that brings professional writers into schools to work with groups of pupils across five half-day sessions over term or half-term. It also includes a creative writing workshop series for school staff and the option for work with parents/carers. Plenty of time is allowed for writer preparation, including a visit to the school before the programme begins. Pupils involved in Write On! Schools can also be nominated for an annual Write On Awards and attendance at our annual event during the Birmingham Book Festival.

• Write On! Original Writing Days – this is one of our new programmes. It gives up to one hundred pupils (from one or several schools) the opportunity to work intensively with up to four writers during a single day. The Original Writing Days are designed to inspire young people to develop their own writing and to be come of aware of the career possibilities of being a writer.

• Write On! In Residence – this is one of our new programmes. It allows a single school to work with a writer or group of writers over a long period of time – a term minimum – and across a whole school. We have most recently worked successfully with all pupils of Years 3, 4 and 5 of a two form intake primary school in Wolverhampton and we are keen to work with other schools across the region.

• Write On! Online – our final new programme is an online project to allow anyone who has participated in any Write On! programme to receive one to one mentoring from a team of professional writers through an online writing website. This is an action research programme funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and there will be no charge for participation.

• Write On! Bespoke – in addition, Write On! is able to plan and deliver at cost a range of creative writing in education projects in schools and community settings. These might include writing workshops with community groups, writing performances, writers in residence in various settings, etc.

3. Write On! Writers Team Our team of writers are all professional writers based in the West Midlands. They include poets, performance poets, dramatists, novelists, journalists, non-fiction writers, screenplay writers and children’s writers. Our team of over twenty writers currently includes the novelist Helen Cross, the children’s writer Mandy Ross, the poet and performance poet Sue Brown and the dramatist Philip Monks. All our writers have CRB checks and are experienced at working in schools and community settings. We have our own training programme for writers to ensure that best practice is shared. Our writers are regularly observed at work by the Write On! Management Team and local authority colleagues.

4. Write On! Feedback We evaluate all our activities, with questionnaires and observation in the classroom. We also fund an independent evaluation every two years. Recent comments from teachers in response to our Write On! activities include:

The parents enjoyed working with their children and seeing the work they can do with a professional writers, Birmingham Primary School Teacher

It was a great experience that I will never forget. Please pass on a sincere big thank you. Sandwell Primary School Teacher

Helped to develop writing throughout upper Key Stage Two, Wolverhampton Secondary School Teacher

Great communication and planning, with an understanding of the pressures teachers are under, Wolverhampton Primary School Teacher

The fact that the children knew he was a professional writer made a huge impact. They worked extra hard as they wanted to impress him, Birmingham Primary School Teacher

[It] developed confidence of teachers as writers and as a consequence be more prepared to experiment and take chances, Birmingham Primary School Teacher

Impact on the children has been huge, thank you!, Birmingham Primary School Teacher

The children all enjoyed working with Jo. One child said: “I don’t’ want her to go”. Children’s love for poetry has increased and they are more confident writers and speakers. A Great experience for all – highly recommended. Birmingham Primary School Teacher

Many of the children went home and wrote more poetry, sharing with parents what they had learnt at school, Stoke Primary School Teacher

Helped give ‘writing for boys’ a higher profile: he was a great role model for the boys – being a crime writer really helped!, Birmingham Primary School Teacher

5. Write On! Management Team

The project is run by the Birmingham Book Festival and the main contact is Jonathan Davidson, Artistic Director of the Birmingham Book Festival, who is based at the Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham. Schools that have been involved in the Write On! Schools programme are also eligible to be involved in the other strands of work. If you are interested in getting your school or educational authority involved in the project please do not hesitate to contact Jonathan Davidson on 0121 246 2770 or email jonathan[at]birminghambookfestival.org