My First Flight

Thanks to Julie Bolitho-Lee, I flew this week. Okay, so it might have been a supposedly simple yoga move (I say supposedly because I struggled somewhat), but technically my feet left the ground and I was not in an aeroplane.

The First Story Residential is one of the highlights of my year. Nestled in the wilds of Somerset is the Nettlecombe Field Studies Centre, where, once a year, seventy budding young writers descend for five days of workshops, exploring and making friends.

Picture credit: http://www.field-studies-council.org/centres/nettlecombecourt.aspx

This year, two students from each First Story school in Oxford, London, Nottingham, Leicester and Bradford were honoured to be taught by some of the best First Story has to offer: Caroline Bird, Matt Black, Julie Bolitho-Lee, James Dawson, Kate Fox and Andrew McMillan. These talented individuals are an invaluable inspiration to the students, both in their own writing and in the time they share with the future writers, offering starting points, feedback and conversation.

Nettlecombe Court is the perfect location for this residential. With rolling hills and quiet spaces, you can read a book or even write one, in the case of many of the guests last week. With rooms full of games and the opportunity to participate in Julie's yoga classes, you can make friends and share laughs. And without phone signal, you are free from the pressures of everyday life.

The gorgeous faces and brilliant minds at First Story work incredibly hard to make this week happen - one even hopped on a train from London to Bradford at the last minute to make sure everything ran smoothly from the North. They sit up all night making sure the kids are asleep, and run around all day reminding them to phone home.

But it is well worth it. On the final night, all the students share something they have been working on during the week. They stand up in front of their new friends and read out, loud and proud, and everyone has something to celebrate.

It is not just the students who massively enjoy the First Story residential. As a First Story teacher / librarian, I made new friends (kumbayah), wrote poetry I am proud of (including my Ode to Andrew McMillan), and participated in yoga for the first time (I flew!). Now I am back in the city, I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms, and I cannot wait to jump back into the First Story program in September!

This is Not the First Time I Have Cried about Poetry

I have spent the last three days looking for the words to articulate the incredible event that took place in the Oxford Spires Library on Monday evening.

The final term of the year is one in which the First Story workshops begin to wind down, with students preoccupied by exams and the summer sun, and our writer-in-residence busy submitting poetry to various competitions.

The First Story anthology launch is the day all Teacher Liaison's look upon with a mixture of excitement, nerves and dread (but only because I want everything to run perfectly smoothly!).

Like last year, we hosted this year's launch in the school library - the same place the workshops have been taking place throughout the year. Behind the scenes, the marvels at First Story and Oxford University Press have been editing, typesetting and printing away, whilst Kate and I have been putting everything in place for the launch party.

It all came together - quite miraculously - on Monday 7th July, when a year of hard work, creative writing and wild fun came together. All but one of our students attended - the absentee has now returned to her home in Michigan, USA, following a short stint in Oxford, where we were fortunate enough to welcome her to our workshops. Her anthologies have been posted across the Atlantic, and I cannot wait to hear what she thinks!

Rehearsals ran fairly smoothly, though there were some nerves. Public speaking does not come naturally to all students, but the shared community feeling amongst our First Story group meant that the young writers enabled each other to find the confidence to stand on stage and share a little piece of themselves with the audience. In fact, my highlight of the whole day was when Kate sent one of our Year 13 students - who has blossomed into a confident and eloquent performer - outside to mentor one of the newer young writers, and the quiet mumbles of the student were transformed into a loud and engaging recitation in a matter of moments.

As the audience arrived, the Library buzzed with excitement. We welcomed friends, families and special guests, including Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - a complete gentleman who is lovely to chat to.

I knew the students would be amazing - I had read the anthology and been there in the workshops - but I was still blown away by their performances. It is a big step for a young writer to share their work with you - often if feels like giving a piece of themselves up; and for some students, reading their poem to a future lover or a letter to a lost fathers, it is an incredible expression of trust.

I laughed and cried, riding a crazy rollercoaster of emotion, reminiscing about workshops full of frustration and instances when we finally broke through. Kate and I have been making big plans for next year (but I will talk about that another time), but it is these seemingly simple moments of sharing and enjoying that I look forward to the most.

Our First Prize-Winner Returns

Azfa is infamous at Oxford Spires and First Story. In 2013, she won the Christopher Tower Poetry Prize with her poem 'Origins'. Now, she has become Oxford Youth Ambassador for Poetry, and we are incredibly excited that she has continued to work with us.

Over the last six months, Azfa has been called upon for a variety of responsibilities and opportunities. Amongst these, we have asked her to judge in-school poetry competitions, known to be a horrendously difficult job. She has been around during our First Story sessions, contributing to and continuing to learn from Kate's workshops. She has worked with some of our Year 7 students, engaging them in creative writing by leading classes and inspiring them to express themselves. And she has visited local primary schools, working with gifted and talented children to push them above and beyond the national curriculum.

It has been a privilege to watch Azfa blossom into a brilliant young writer. When I first met her, she was quiet and thoughtful, always with her head in a book, scribbling away. In February of 2013, I escorted her and a group of girls on an Arvon residential to Shropshire, where she benefited from the peace and quiet, an opportunity to escape the everyday. Since then, she has worked closely with Kate Clanchy, slowly becoming more independent. A few weeks ago, she performed with several of her peers for the Oxford Brookes Outburst Festival at the Pegasus Theatre, and I was blown away by the writing she has produced since officially leaving Oxford Spires. Her poetry is powerful, passionate and personal, engaging with subjects that have touched her and affected her life.

Azfa has done so much for us - too much to list - but her impact is profound, and I am so grateful to have her around. Next year, she shall be leaving Oxford to embark on her university education, and I am not sure what Kate and I will do without her.

First Minibus Adventure

On Friday 13th June, University College London hosted One Day in the City, a day celebrating literature in London. Simultaneously, First Story and UCL welcomed four schools from London, Oxford and Nottingham into various museums across the university to experience creative writing workshops with some of First Story's best writers in residence.

We took eleven enthusiastic and talented young writers from years 7 and 8 on our school minibus, embarking on a journey (on a day riddled with superstition) that I was convinced could only go wrong. Fortunately, we were lucky to be driven by our fabulous caretaker; and the organisers at UCL were amazing - printing us a route map and providing us with suitable parking. And the pupils we took were brilliant - engaged and engaging, creating pieces of work that reflected their surroundings and experiences on the day.

When we arrived in London, we were greeted by helpers clad in yellow t-shirts, milling around and showing people where to go. Oxford Spires were guided by Laura, an MA student at UCL who was very friendly, but knew when to put her foot down (i.e. when we were trying to cross the road and the kids weren't paying attention).

All the guests gathered in a lecture theatre, where we were treated to a performance by Anthony Anaxagorou and Bridget Minamore. I have attended workshops and performances by Anthony in the past, and he is a inspiring and engaging young writer; and Bridget was a welcome breath of fresh air on that overly warm morning. Her poetry was sharp, funny and relevant, cutting right to what her audience were interested in.

The Oxford Spires students were treated to a workshop with Kate Kingsley, author of the Young, Loaded and Fabulous series, in the Grant Museum of Zoology - a space full of pickled animals and leering skeletons. I was so impressed that none of the young writers were scared of the items on display - including a jar full of moles and a stuffed cloned cat - but curiously explored and absorbed. Kate had us writing in different styles, thinking about the tone of our prose or poetry. We selected concepts from a bag, telling us to write in the style of someone who was trapped in the museum, or someone who owned the collection, or like we were in a detective novel. In a short space of time, the young writers had funny, scary and original pieces of prose to share with the group.

Then, Kate asked us to write as if we were one of the museum pieces, imagining we were an animal stuffed or pickled or displayed. Again, the minds of the students created hilarity and drama in a way that only young writers can produce.

At the end of the day, all four groups (each of which had been with a different author in a different part of the university) came back together and selected students shared their work. I was impressed by the variety and quality of work produced in just two hours - and, having been to so many events, I should be used to this by now.

Huge thanks is due to all the wonderful people at First Story (particularly Nikki), the invaluable helpers in yellow shirts, and the organisers of One Day in the City. My pupils came home buzzing, even after hours spent confined to the back of the minibus (being sporadically fed treats in the vain hope of keeping them quiet for a few minutes at a time).

Also, good luck to James Dawson, one of the First Story authors present, who is currently shortlisted for the Queen of Teen Award for great writing in young-adult fiction. Please vote for James here: http://www.queenofteen.co.uk/vote.html

My First Attempt at Anthologising

I'm not sure that anthologising is actually a real word, though Kate and I use it like it is. So let me define it: anthologising refers to the process of bringing together a collection of writing from various authors into one perfect book. Synonyms include 'arranging', 'collating' and 'editing'.

Since we have set a date for our First Story anthology launch, we have to anthologise the writing of our students in preparation for publication. I thought it might be good to gather some top tips for arranging a creative writing anthology, so chatted with Kate and our students to get some ideas.

Step 1: The Content
The first thing we did was ensure we had a great selection of writing to choose from. Kate has been collecting the work of our young writers over the course of the year, meaning we had a great range of writing to choose from. We wanted to ensure that each student is fairly represented, and tried to show of their range, so some students have poetry and prose in our anthology; one even had a piece of playwriting.

Step 2: The Order
The best poetry anthologies have flow and rhythm. Each poem seamlessly leads into the next, even where poems by different authors are alongside each other. Look for similar themes or images - something that proved to be common when producing an anthology created by students who experienced the same creative writing classes. Start with something powerful and engaging, and end with something uplifting and thought-provoking. And, as it comes together, start drafting titles - this is the really hard decision.

Step 3: The Read Through
In the same way that we always encourage the creative writing students to proof read their work, we had to read through the anthology to make sure it flowed and we didn't have any silly mistakes. We shared the whole thing with the students, inviting them to share with their classmates and friends again, giving them that sense of empowerment that we love to see. We also discussed titles, checked the spelling of names, and created mini-biographies about each of the writers. Sometimes, students get nervous about writing about themselves, so we worked on this together, getting all members to come up with characteristics that defined each of us. It has produced some lovely conversations about the unique and bright personalities we have in our First Story group.

Step 4: The Edit
When we were ready, we sent the manuscript to the publisher, First Story. Again, more proof reading ensued, with lots of emails back and forth about structure, consent from the writer, and approval by the school. It proved invaluable to be open to changes. We were also lucky enough to be able to get one of our sixth form art students to design our cover, a great opportunity that he will be able to take with him in his future career as an illustrator.

Step 5: The Waiting Game
This is the hardest part. You've seen the layout, read each poem - probably laughed and cried a lot - and admired the cover. It all seems so real, and yet still so far away! Our launch date is fast approaching, so Kate and I have got plenty to keep ourselves busy with. Kate also embarks on extra projects during this term; specifically, we are seeking funding to make some changes to the library, designing a Poetry Hub where students can be inspired, can relax, can share and learn, and can be creative. But in the back of my mind is a constant buzz of excitement that the anthology will be here soon!

But my best piece of advice? Find yourself a Kate Clanchy. She is highly experienced in this area, making my job unbelievably easy. Such rare and wonderful individuals are highly skilled in collecting student work and transforming it all into a beautiful anthology.

The First Time Is Always The Hardest

The last few months have been fairly quiet in terms of new material. Kate and I have been putting together the anthology, with the help of First Story; and our students have been finalising their AS Creative Writing portfolios and revising for their exams. Next term, Kate and I get to embark on some new projects, but for now, we are bumbling on.

But yesterday, something amazing happened. Oxford Brookes' Outburst Festival invited Kate to bring a selection of the best young writers in Oxford to share their writing. We gathered at the Pegasus Theatre, a brilliant venue for such an event, and the audience were lucky enough to hear the work of some of our best students at OSA, as well as Oxford Young Writer of the Year, Coral Dalitz.

Most of the students in our creative writing club are well practised in the skill of reading their work aloud. Every week, we read our first drafts out to the rest of the class - part of the reason I write along with the kids is because they feel comfortable to share with me when I share with them. Then, the poor young writers are asked again and again to perform in assemblies, to younger year groups, or at open events. For First Story and the Oxford Spires Library, creative writing is intricately linked into building confidence, and a huge part of that is the confidence to read / talk aloud.

But sometimes, there is someone who hasn't read aloud before. Yesterday, that someone was Asima, a new addition to our class this year who has blossomed and brought happiness to us all. I invited her along to First Story because of her insatiable desire to read - she has ploughed through most of my library stock and is always recommending new purchases. And I was so glad to have invited her when we discovered she is a talented, joyous girl who always comes to class with a smile and enthusiasm.

Yesterday, she made me proud again, by standing up with her peers and reading her poem, Cinderella, which is about her realisation that fairy tales may not come true in the sense we are led to believe as children; instead, we have to take control of our own destinies, and sometimes boys need a helping hand to falling madly in love. (She is also a complete romantic!)

I came away from the festival feeling incredibly proud and inspired, all over again! We are in the last stages of anthologising, and I am once again overwhelmingly excited about the launch. Two months and counting...

First Poetry Podcast

Last week, BBC Radio visited Oxford Spires Academy to record for a special show about the vast culture of creative writing across the school and the success we have seen in this area. This is just a little sample demonstrating how wonderful the students are that I am lucky enough to work with on a daily basis!