Year 10 Creative Writing Workshop

We will organise and host a GCSE Creative Writing Workshop for up to ten students per local school who have the potential to achieve grades 7 - 9 in their final assessments.

One of the sessions will be run by a recommended author (by a local book shop) whilst the other workshops will be run by our English Faculty. 

The workshops will target those skills and assessment criteria essential to achieve the highest grades at GCSE.

Aims

Aim: To support the development of soft skills (such as communication, teamwork and leadership) alongside global skills (such as empathy and cultural understanding) through a creative writing workshop for gifted and talented Year 10 students from our local state secondary schools and academies. The aim is to support these students to attain the grades 7-9 in their GCSE exams.

Intended Outcome: By allowing girls a forum and opportunity to develop their talents in creative writing in a safe, secure and structured situation, it is hoped that this will encourage them to achieve their aspirations, grow in confidence and motivation and develop links for mentoring with our Sixth Form students.

Success will be measured using their GCSE English Language grades at the end of Year 11 and feedback on their progress from their schools data collection.

Background

The workshops are the idea of our Head of English Faculty based on his own experience and conversations with local schools.

We successfully applied for HSBC funding to support the workshops and through a local bookshop, have been able to source a published young adult fiction author to work with us on the day. 

Resources

The workshop will be held in our school.

Minibus transport from each school will be provided along with refreshments / lunch for participants.

Workshops are designed and run by our English Faculty along with the workshop run by the author.

It is hoped to run the event for a minimum of 3-5 years (funding dependent).

Impact

We will be able to measure the impact of the workshops by assessing the development of the students before, during and after the workshops against exam board criteria.

Pupil Involvement

Pupils involved will be from Year 10 and the workshops are open to both boys and girls. 

All the local state secondary schools will be encouraged to nominate up to 10 students each.

Frequency

The workshop will run once a year in the Summer Term.

Depending on funding, we hope to run it for 3-5 years.