OtherWise Education
WRITING WORKS
Writing Works
Writing Works is an ambitious project that sets up children and teachers from a group of schools into a lively, expressive and creative writing network.
This project has been designed and developed by Jonny Walker and Jo Castro.
Sessions take place across six consecutive weeks, and we introduce children to a range of challenging and unusual writing contexts, working with them to find and develop their authentic authorship.
What makes this project unique is that we gather a teach of expert writers to facilitate the sessions.
Working alongside professional writers gives children the chance to see what a real writer's life is.
The first and last sessions are facilitated by Jonny Walker or Jo Castro, and the four guest workshops are led by writers across different fields.
Week 1 - Intro to Writing Works
Week 2 - Fiction
Week 3 - Non-Fiction
Week 4 - Poetry
Week 5 - Illustration
Week 6 - Your Writer's Life
We approach writers we like, and support them to develop brilliant workshops.
The design of the project recognises the additional emotional and pastoral challenges that can be faced by highly academically-able pupils; using Jo's coaching approach, we embed an understanding of the perils of perfectionism, a desire for challenge and independence, and a fear of failure.
Our successful pilot took place with schools in Redbridge, hosted at Glade Primary School.
We had a wonderful team of writers involved.
This can serve as an example of how it might work in your school.
Fiction - Led by Chitra Soundar
Non-Fiction - Led by Sonya Patel Ellis
Poetry - Led by Adisa the Verbalizer
Illustration - Led by Pete Gray
Want to run Writing Works with your local schools?
