Ownership is Everything

Amongst all the National Poetry Day celebrations, I was lucky and honoured to be commended for my work with creative writing at Oxford Spires Academy as a Teacher Trailblazer.

Traditionally, this is an accolade awarded to "teachers that showed exceptional dedication to the teaching of poetry in schools"... Previous winners include senior leaders, heads of departments, and those who have been teaching for longer than I have been alive.

I am not a teacher. I am a librarian (and proud of it), so whilst I did not meet the traditional criteria I offered the Poetry Society my top tips for establishing a culture of poetry in a school (rather than my top tips for teaching poetry). Here, I want to expand upon those with some additional detail, and to emphasise that these tips aren't just about establishing a culture of poetry, but about establishing the library as a centre in your school.

Make the Library space and stock all about the students. I love being on the front line in customer service - talking to and sharing with the customers - and none is more interesting than a teenager. They make me laugh and cringe and despair, but they are inspirational. Often, our chats are not related to poetry or reading or the library, but often they come back to talking about books: they like to ask me about my favourite authors and I love to hear about theirs. I encourage the students to recommend books to me – either those they have already read and want to recommend to others, or books they have heard are good and would like to read. I am lucky that I have a good enough budget to be able to purchase most of the books requested, but I am also thrilled that sometimes students bring me their old books as donations.

But it isn't just about stock – the space should suit their needs, too. The OSA library is located in the old school hall, part of the site that dates back to the 1950s. It has a beautiful wooden floor and heavy shelving built into the walls. Architecturally, it is a brilliant historic space, but it is not ideal as a library: the sound ricochets around the room, and there are plenty of dark corners for hiding in. It is a huge contrast to the rest of the school, where our most recent building was opened just twelve months ago and is full of bright open space and various technologies.

There is not a lot I can do with the main area of the library, but I have tried to give the students the opportunity to make it their own. I have posters of students’ creative writing plastered all over the walls, and we have a selection of art projects from ex-students that I would like to expand. I have also been embarking on decorating empty walls with bunting, so pupils have been making little flags for me, loosely themed around books.

We also have an upstairs balcony, which had been unused and unkempt for some time. Last year, I sought out some student leaders to make some changes. I have two Library Prefects, and they have been leading a group of creative writing students in a Learn to Lead initiative, in the hope to make the space into a comfortable, safe and inspiring environment. They took their proposal to the Principal before the summer, who committed enough funding to purchase some new furniture. The Poetry Hub isn't ready quiet yet, but just today I had a sofa delivered! The students selected the furniture and the colour scheme, and they have loved seeing their suggestions come to fruition.

For our library, I want it to be all about empowerment. When they feel that sense of ownership, they make use of the resources and space available, and this massively improves their confidence and literacy. And subsequently, I can see them accessing different poetry and being inspired in their own writing. There was a period when I worried that there seemed to be a decrease in the number of students using the non-fiction section, until the students told me that it was me they weren’t using as much, because they already knew where to find what they wanted.

Maintain momentum, however difficult that may sometimes feel. Don’t let people forget where you are and what you do. Students and staff get so caught up in the pressure of exams and data that they often don’t take the time to indulge in some old fashioned reading for pleasure.

I like the library to constantly be a subject of conversation through the school. This is achieved by ensuring that something is always going on, including (but not limited to):

• The presence of our writer-in-residence, Kate Clanchy, thanks to First Story, who engages with students in their English lessons and in a voluntary after-school club;
• Trips to museums, writing festivals, etc., again many of which are thanks to First Story;
• Inter-House poetry competitions for every year group;
• Success in wider national competitions, such as the Foyle and Betjeman competitions;
• Author visits, such as for World Book Day and our Performance Poetry Day.

In December, performance poet Bridget Minamore visited us to carry out workshops in the library. She had big boots to fill – last year we welcomed George the Poet, who was charming, intelligent, and awed everyone who met him or saw him perform. It is so important to show the wide scope of the possibilities offered by the library – we are not just about books and shushing, but about engagement with the voices of young people, about creativity and developing public speaking skills, and about having fun. 

I am lucky that I have incredible support from senior leadership and our English department, but when poetry becomes part of every department, the library becomes part of every department. I have even managed to convince the maths department of the relevance of poetry, because one of the creative writing students wrote about how her mind drifts away during maths lessons!

Encourage every student to recognise that they have a unique voice and a story to tell. This is where the power of poetry can really be identified.

At Oxford Spires, we have a culturally, ethnically and socially diverse mix of backgrounds, and I love hearing about the students’ lives. Creative writing allows them to explore their unique experiences, to share them with others and to articulate what is important to them.

We celebrate our diversity. If a student speaks another language, they are encouraged to integrate it in their poetry, and there are books on the shelves written from and about other cultures.

When I attend creative writing workshops, we often begin by looking at an existing piece of poetry or prose, and we explore the techniques and themes within it. I am always impressed by how different this is from how I learned about poetry at school, which seemed so constricting and regimented. In the OSA First Story group, we try hard to analyse what the poet is saying, and there is definitely no wrong answer. Then we use a starting point taken from the poem, such as a single line or an idea, and we are led wherever our pen takes us.

In a group of fifteen young writers, you will find fifteen uniquely different voices, stories and poems. Some will run on for pages, whilst others will be shorter than a haiku. Some will be based in reality, others will bounce around in the craziest of imaginations. Some will make you laugh, and others will break your heart.

Engaging Students in Poetry in the School Library. When the students feel like the library is theirs – a safe environment in which they can share and create – the poetry produced is awe-inspiring. The library is at the centre of creative writing, and creative writing is the centre of Oxford Spires Academy. 

Shadowing the T. S. Eliot Prize

Creative reading is the cornerstone of creative writing. Our group of young poets and novelists meet once a week, and as their Librarian, I bombard them with words and reading. So I was thrilled by the structured resources available through the T S Eliot Shadowing Scheme.

The group, consisting of six A-level students, had been asked to read the poems in advance, each to varying levels of detail. Some had read every poem I had given them or had even sought out the full published collections, whilst others had dipped in and out of one and two.

The discussion began with me asking a few of them about their favourites. Chad read out ‘The Wandered’ by Ruth Padel, which he engaged with because of the reflective tone – he loved the image of the mother’s pies, with a ceramic bird “whose yellow beak cracked the crust”.

Thus, we moved on to Gluck’s ‘The Past’, and compared the style. It was noted that ‘The Past’ reminded us of Emily Dickinson, with wavering lines, some seemingly unfinished, the flow creating an almost visible movement to match the words.

I proposed Kevin Powers as my favourite. Sophie highlighted the way he seems to say one thing and mean another, and the prominence the effect of war has had on his writing. We had recently looked at writing in the second person, and Powers demonstrates the impact of writing in this way with the present tense: lines like “Think of missing so often it becomes absurd” seemed to have a different meaning to each of us.

We talked about the importance of length on our engagement with poetry, as many of the students confessed to being unable to maintain focus with the longer of the selection. In an attempt to disprove this theory, I read Hugo Williams’ ‘I Knew the Bride’, which I had shared with some teaching colleagues and they had loved. Williams uses similar techniques to Powers, including the second person narrative voice. But when we came to discuss the poem, most of our group confessed to having switched off, around the point Williams talks about “practising our jiving / for the Feather’s Club Ball at the Lyceum”. We discussed that the opening lines and final stanza were painfully and beautifully emotive, and when we looked in more detail at the poem, individuals confessed to being touched by certain lines in the mid-section: “You fought a five-year war / with that foul thing” was the cause of much speculation – what was “that foul thing”?

Finally, the quietest of our group suggested we discuss ‘Icefield’ by David Harsent. It was the imagery in this poetry that stood out, the darkness of the sounds that run through each line, and the contradictory enlightenment that the reader experiences. We discussed the overriding darkness that seemed to run throughout the whole selection, and the students reflected that their best poetry of late had been similarly melancholy.

One student asked if our favourites conformed to what we think should or will win? We discussed the difference between popular culture and high culture more widely. But the consensus seemed to be that David Harsent’s words – with the cemented description paving the way to powerful imagery – were what stayed with us most strongly. Thus, the Oxford Spires Academy creative writing club concluded this to be our winner.

But we are very much looking forward to the official winner being announced on 12th January.

Memorisation and Recitation

Last year, one of Oxford Spires' star students won the Oxfordshire final of Poetry by Heart and was invited to London for the national finals. (Read about it here.)

This week, following on from the success of Performance Poetry Day with Bridget Minamore, we have successfully maintained a flow of creative momentum in the library.

Poetry by Heart is a recitation competition open to students aged 15-18. It is a celebration of poetry, in which students select a poem from the archive, learn it by heart, and deliver it to an engaged audience of poetry lovers.

At Oxford Spires, we wanted to get some of the younger students excited about recitation, as well as seek a champion to represent the school at the regional finals in January. As such, we set up two competitions - one for the potential OSA representative, and one to get the lower school excited about poetry and their possible future success in this competition.

Last Friday, the English department selected up to ten students from years 7, 8 and 9 to come to the library for a mad flash training session. We had a mix of boys and girls, some fairly confident and some pretty quiet, some poetry lovers and some more apathetic individuals. The first hour was spent selecting the poetry they would recite, scrolling through the Poetry by Heart website, but also looking at some of the books on the shelves of the library - talking about what we liked, what we didn't like, and sharing poems that we had found.

We only had a short amount of time with the lower school students, so in the second hour, Kate Clanchy gave the students some tips on how to learn off by heart. In corners all around the room, students were practicing with friends and celebrating the written word.

Finally, it was time for the students to recite their poems. Having had such a short space of time, many did not know theirs off by heart, but we wanted to create an atmosphere of celebration and excitement around poetry, so did not put too much pressure on the children. There was no 'winner', but Kate and I were so impressed by the articulation and delivery of the students, especially those who we thought lacked in confidence.

 One student, who had been a finalist for our in school poetry competition, had not read her winning poem out the day before in assembly, but stood on stage in front of her peers and read off by heart in our event.

Yesterday, we hosted the competition for the upper school (predominantly creative writing students), to find Oxford Spires' Poetry by Heart finalist. These students had more time to prepare - it is a competition, after all! Mrs Croft attended as a judge, and the sixth formers read their poems with pride and love. It was incredible that they all seemed to select poems that sounded like something they would have written themselves.

There was one student who stood out amongst the rest - Asima is an intelligent and well-read girl who writes bright, merry poetry, and who has come on an incredible journey from a timid teen to a confident young woman. We are very excited for the Oxfordshire and Berkshire final next month at the Old Fire Station.

Just, Wow!

On Wednesday 3rd, we were honoured to welcome Bridget Minamore to Oxford Spires Academy for our second Performance Poetry Day.

Read about the first Performance Poetry Day here.

Bridget is an inspiring young writer and performer who spent the day working with a select group of fourteen and fifteen year old students. She carried out workshops to develop their skills in storytelling, creative writing and performing. The day ended with students performing their work to their classmates.

At the start of the day, the students seemed a little embarrassed and nervous. Bridget encouraged them to tell stories about themselves, in part to get to know their names but also to help them relax. The group consisted of high ability students, both boys and girls, with varying levels of confidence - some had been selected specifically in the hope that this event might boost their self-esteem.

Throughout the writing workshops, the students revealed their creativity, impressing Bridget and their classmates. Some are First Story veterans, but many would probably consider themselves reluctant poets, so I was thrilled by how engaged they became with the writing.

In the last lesson of the day, after Bridget had worked with everyone in small groups to develop their performance skills, all the students stood on the library stage and read their work. There was great variety in the subjects explored (as Bridget had given them free reign to write about whatever they wanted to), and in their performance styles, each student revealing their true colours through how they held themselves in front of the mic.

On a personal note, it was so nice to spend the day with Bridget - she is clever and open and is brilliant at working with kids, making my day so easy and enjoyable.

Here is a little sample of some of the students' work, from Y9s, Renad, Ulfat and Mukahang:

As a trio we agree
What a poem should or shouldn't be
Although each of us a different nationality
We are all beings of abnormality
 To each on our own
Our own stories to be told
 ***
 Though we all came from different places
We all have one person in our heart spaces
Our inspiration plays a big role in our lives
Our motivation, our hero, our mothers. 

We would like to thanks the John Betjeman Poetry Competition for Young People for making this event possible.

Number 10

So last night I found myself in Number 10 Downing Street.

Yeah, I know, right?!

(Right to left:) Mrs Croft, Esme, me!

Fortunately for you, there is photographic evidence, albeit from outside the infamous historical home of the British Prime Minister (we weren't allowed to take phones inside).

I attended the reception with the Oxford Spires Principal, Mrs Croft, and one of our star creative writers, Esme. The event was hosted by Frances Osbourne for First Story, and Esme was thrilled to give a speech about why she loved the charity so much.

Esme and I left school after lunch to visit the V&A (my favourite museum) and release some of the nervous excitement we were both holding on to. In the Islamic Art section, Esme rehearsed her speech and poem one final time - she was presenting a new piece written just last week; a piece which reflects her growing maturity and independence and the incredible impact of First Story on her life.

She spoke about the presence of Kate Clanchy in our school, the friends she had made and they changes she had seen in their self-confidence, and how much she loves the way First Story see her not just as a student and teenager but as a writer

At Number 10, I was so relieved to be surrounded by my friends from First Story (having held myself together for most of the day in order to keep Esme calm, I found myself tipping over into childish excitement by the time we arrived).

David Cameron was not there, but Mrs Osbourne welcomed us all and introduced Esme and Reem, another First Story alumni who read an emotional poem about her home country. The venue was better than I could have imagined - we walked up the staircase lined with images of past Prime Ministers, and the rooms were filled with extravagant chandeliers and priceless art.

I am still reeling of the thrill of it all - I feel so privileged to have been invited and to have visited Number 10.

Poetry Hub Update

I thought it was about time I wrote a little update regarding our progress with the Poetry Hub at the Oxford Spires Library.

Earlier this year, a group of creative writing students initiated a Learn to Lead project in the Library, by which they would transform an unused space into a comfortable, inspirational environment for reading and writing.

In the final few weeks of the last academic year, I met with the group (a mix of students from year 8 through to sixth formers, participating as much as they could between revision sessions and exams), and we managed to develop a proposal to take to the Principal, Mrs Croft. The proposal included a breakdown of their objectives and intended outcomes, including removal of the existing furniture (some dirty blue chairs), cleaning of the walls and carpets, and the purchase and installation of the new seating and lighting.

Mrs Croft was excited by our proposal, and was happy to fund labour and furniture from the Learn to Lead budget, with thanks to Oxford City Council.

Over the summer break, the brilliant site team removed a block of old wooden shelving along the back wall, and it was discovered that the wall behind it was not in a good state. As a result, the area required more cleaning and redecorating than expected; but I returned in September to rediscover that the carpet was a beautiful bright purple - a colour I hadn't seen before due to all the grime and dirt trodden in to it.


Through September, I caught up with all the Learn to Lead students to get their thoughts on the specific furniture they wanted in the Poetry Hub. They asked for a sofa, bean bags, new chairs, and space dividers, so they can block out the sounds of the students in the rest of the library and enclose themselves in privacy.

I have taken to ordering a little of the furniture at a time, so that we can see how it looks before we can add to it. But I am under full instruction from the students who keep coming to tell me what to do next - I have never been bossed around quite this much, and I love it!

The Poetry Hub is well on it's way to being an ideal space for creative writing and reading, though there is still work to be done. More furniture is on it's way, and Kate and I are still looking for sources to fund some new shelving and additional stock. But for ambitious perfectionists like our Learn to Lead Poetry Hub team, nothing is impossible.

Hopefully more news to follow soon!

Foyle and Betjeman Competitions

Thursday 2nd October has to be one of my favourite days of 2014.

Kate and I travelled to London together, where we met with the families of two of our students, Jasmine and Helen.

Jasmine was one of the 15 'super winners' of the Foyle Young Poet of the Year competition, whilst Helen was highly commended, along with another student, Emee. Elsewhere, both Helen and Jasmine were finalists for the John Betjeman Poetry Competition for Young People; a competition in which Jasmine had been a finalist in 2013 as well!

We started our day at Royal Festival Hall, where a variety of celebratory events were taking place for National Poetry Day. On the fifth floor, the one hundred commended poets and winners of the Foyle met and shared their success. Grace Nichols and Simon Barraclough had done an incredible job of selecting the best poems from over 13,000 entries, and we were privileged to hear the best fifteen read aloud. There was a great variety, including comedy, philosophy and epic descriptions. Hearing poetry read aloud by the individual who wrote it adds meaning to the work, and even the youngest of the winners read with confidence and fluency.

I was also honoured to be recognised by the Poetry Society as a Teacher Trailblazer. It is no secret that I simply love my work.

From the Southbank, we traveled north, up to St Pancras, where the prize ceremony for the Betjeman competition takes place. It shows the brilliance of the young writers at Oxford Spires that Helen and Jasmine had two different poems shortlisted in two different competitions.

Alongside a statue of John Betjeman, Helen and Jasmine read their poems, along with the third finalist, Noah Bodley Scott. We were so proud when Helen was announced as the winner - her poem is complex and sharp, especially for a thirteen year old!

On my journey home at the end of National Poetry Day, I felt infected with love for the written word, so was relieved to have so many poetry books to entertain me.

#thinkofapoem

Because I was in London, there was a weirdly small amount of creative writing and reading taking place in Oxford Spires on National Poetry Day. In preparation, Kate and I created a poetic atmosphere to leave in our absence, including arranging for some students to go to Blackwell's on Broad Street, Oxford for a Pop Up Poetry event. This was a great opportunity for select sixth formers to share their work with the general public. Emee Begum, who was in the 85 commended poets for the Foyle Young Writer of the Year, read out her winning poem in Blackwell's as she could not make it to London for the ceremony.



Throughout the week, at school, I had been getting excited about the #ThinkOfAPoem campaign from the Forward Arts Foundation. Poets, students and educators were encouraged to get the conversation started with transfers and posters and workshops. At Oxford Spires, Kate carried out a 'first lines' workshop, in which she gave our young writers the first line of a famous poem and asked them to write where they saw it going. In some cases, the line was lost when their imaginations ran wild, but we were lucky to get some brilliant pieces like this:

Meanwhile, I have come away from the whole week buzzing with inspiration and excitement. Part of the Teacher Trailblazer Award was getting some new poetry books, which will go straight on the Library shelves (after I have read them and maybe even dabbled in some writing). I also got my copy of the Forward Book of Poetry 2015 (see my review here), and have been popping in and out of the pages whenever I get the chance.

Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to use this momentum to get some students to enter the Forward Young Responses competition; I cannot wait!

First Story Festival

On Thursday 25th and Friday 26th September, First Story hosted their annual Festival at Lady Margaret Hall.

This year, with the charity expanding into more and more schools across London, Oxford, Leicester, Bradford, Nottingham and Cheltenham, the festival is spread over two days. More schools, more writers, more brilliance!

I attended on the Thursday as a volunteer, and was thrilled to see the First Story team again. This festival takes a lot of hard work and dedication, culminating in an incredible and inspiring day. For many students, it is their first contact with First Story, introducing them to what they will experience over the course of the year, which finishes with them publishing an anthology of their own writing.

On Friday, I took thirty budding writers from Oxford Spires - from zany year eights to literary sixth formers. The day was made up of talks from First Story alumni, performances from poets and novelists, and workshops with writers they otherwise would not come into contact with. Mark Haddon, writer of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, was the key note speaker, describing his journey into being a novelist and answering questions about where his stories come from; and Philip Pullman was a surprise guest at the end, awing children and adults alike.

At the end of each day, First Story try to get one student from each school to read out one of the pieces they have written during the day. For Oxford Spires, the chosen student was a modest, quiet girl called May, who has won in-school writing competitions but is consistently reluctant to read out. But at the Festival, in the excitement of the moment, she read her poem beautifully - a poem about her dislike of maths. I am so proud of her - I know how nervous she would have been, and I am impressed by what she achieved.

First Story have just launched a really exiting competition, with the chance to win a trip to an Arvon residential. The theme of the competition is 'Home' - a subject about which I know every young writer has something to say. There is even a sub-competition for teachers!

First Step Forward

I have been struggling to write this post for a while - it is a somewhat bittersweet moment, as I start my second year as the First Story Teacher at Oxford Spires (though my third year lucky enough to be working with First Story). There will be fewer and fewer 'firsts' this year, though I know the pupils and First Story staff will continue to wow me, so I have been searching for a new way to take this blog forward and continue sharing my experiences with you.

Baring that in mind, Kate and I have been tirelessly working for the last six months to find some additional financial support for our poetry program at Oxford Spires. We have been plotting to fully establish OSA as the centre for poetry in the city of Oxford, by creating stronger links with local state schools, renovating part of the library into a Poetry Hub with soft seating and fresh resources, and to run a more extensive range of events and opportunities throughout the school.

It was hard to keep going with all the rejections we received, until the brilliant Susannah Herbert from the Forward Arts Foundation got in touch with a proposal. And I am very excited to continue and reinforce the position of OSA as a centre for poetry with the support of the Forward Foundation, which is enabling us to fun a more extensive range of poetry events and publicise broader national poetry schemes in school.

(For the record, we are still continuing with these effort, and any advice / pointers / support would be hugely appreciated!)

I am going to stick with this webpage and URL, for the sake of continuity, but I apologise if the posts are no longer 'firsts'.

So first up, Kate and I are relaunching First Story at OSA for the new academic year, with the brilliant First Story Festival and drawing on the enthusiasm surrounding National Poetry Day. In just a few weeks, we will have a strong, established group of young creative writers attending our sessions, and I cannot wait to see what comes of their work!

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!

First Draft

Today, we looked at the first draft of our anthology and it made me cry.

Over the last six months, Kate has been collecting in the work produced each week. She calls it 'Kate's Magic Writing Up Service' and she will turn scraps of paper into 'proper-looking' poems. As such, we find it is rather easy to get an anthology together, with Kate and the students selecting their best pieces and arranging them in an order that has style and fluidity.

Today, Kate proposed that our anthology might be called Wings. This is because we have some lovely poems in which wings feature, including a poem about a young boy's dream of being a superhero. We also hope this will lend itself to a brilliant cover design, and we are trying to recruit one of our art students to design it!

There is a mixure of poetry and prose throughout our first draft; some are funny and some are heart-wrenching; some are from the heart and some are pure fantasy. We try and put in at least two poems from every student, and with all the groups we have, this means we get a packed, varied collection.

Even though I have read many of these pieces of poetry and prose before, or have heard early versions read out during our First Story classes, I was touched when reading them all together. There is something special about knowing who has written a poem, and it is humbling when they share this little piece of themselves with you.

As we wind down towards the end of the year, First Story will take a slighly different appearance in our school. There will be a lot of administration for me to deal with, especially in preparation for our anthology launch, and students will become increasingly preoccupied with their examinations. However, this is a great opportunity for Kate to do some innovative things with students in other areas of the school!

A First World War Poetry Showcase

This weekend, I took one of Oxford Spires' sixth form students to a national poetry recitation competition: Poetry by Heart. This innovative and exciting celebration of poetry involves students selecting and learning poems off by heart, exploring and presenting them in their own voices.

In order to be invited to the regional finals in London, Esme had to compete in a number of rounds in school and against other schools in the county. A few weeks ago, Miss Woolley and I escorted Esme to the Oxfordshire heat at the Old Fire Station in the city centre, where she recited her three chosen poems to an exclusive audience.

Esme worked very hard to learn these poems, especially considering how many other responsibilities and commitments she has. The poems she selected are true reflections of the person she is, and she inhabited them like they were her own. The competitors had to chose one poem written before 1914, one poem written after 1914, and one poem from the First World War, to honour the centenary. Her poems were:

• The Things That Matter by E. Nesbit;
• Lights Out by Edward Thomas;
• The Way We Live by Kathleen Jamie, which she swapped for Strawberries by Edwin Morgan for the London regional finals (a poem I adore).

Since there were not many entries from Berkshire, the two counties were combined, and although Esme performed magnificently, she lost out to a confident and passionate competitor from St Gabriel's School for Girls.

But two weeks later, we received a letter inviting her to the regional finals - apparently, although the overall winner for that heat was from Berkshire, the organisers still wanted a competitor from Oxforshire and Esme was chosen.

As such, we ended up in London this weekend, sharing in a wonderful celebration of the written and spoken word. The schedule was made up of a variety of events, including a literary bus tour via Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey and past the spot where Sherlock fell off St Bartholomew's Hospital (my risk assessment did not account for the level of excitement experienced by Esme and I), a visit to BBC Broadcasting House to record her The Things That Matter for Poetry Please, and the regional and national finals.

The South East heat was the first of the regional finals, and it was immediately clear that the competition was tough, though the interpretations and performances varied. Where multiple students had selected the same poem, each recitation seemed completely different as competitors interpreted the words in different ways. But what I loved the most was the way each reader so completely adopted the poems as their own, and the support they gave each other when they were up on stage and mingling elsewhere during the weekend.

I have come home from this weekend with my love for poetry completely reinvigorated, and plan to spend today dipping in and out of various anthologies, as well as trawling the Poetry by Heart website. I hope Kate and I can draw from Esme's success and extend the value and love of recitation through the school.

To find out more about Poetry by Heart, or register for the competition, visit www.poetrybyheart.org.uk

First Things First

I am always looking for ways to improve the library, making it more accessible and comfortable for the students at Oxford Spires Academy. I have found that the best results come from consultation with the library users, and now, we are beginning to initiate student-led projects across school through the Learn to Lead program.

This week, Kate wanted to work one-to-one with each of our First Story students to look at which pieces of work will go in the anthology and which might need further development. Meanwhile, I took the other young writers and gave them the opportunity to be creative in another way, through thinking about possible renovations that could be made to the library.

Upstairs there is a large, empty space that is currently used for meetings or silent study. However, it is poorly decorated, completely uninspiring, and often misused. I would love for it to become a hub for creativity and reflection, and proposed that the students might like to lead a project to turn it into a Poetry Hub.

So we met with our Learn to Lead teacher, Mrs Fisher, to look at our options and think up some ideas about how the space might be improved. We started by thinking about what is good about it at the moment, and we agreed that it was exclusive, usually peaceful, and perfect for independent study. However, when we discussed the issues with it, we thought it is unattractive, uncomfortable and subject to disturbances from noisy students from elsewhere in the library and the courtyard outside.

Then, the creative writing students discussed how they might like to see it changed. We had some brilliant (and some strange) ideas, such as giving it a fresh lick of paint, buying some more comfortable furniture, and adding some inspiring stock to the shelves. They also wanted to decorate the walls with quotes from famous writers and asked if we could alter the lighting to induce a more relaxed mood. The sixth formers were keen for the area to remain somewhat exclusive to avoid misuse, and agreed some rules should be developed, but also wanted it to be open to kids from all year groups, offering anyone the opportunity to use the space for inspiration and writing.

We ended the session by creating an action plan, helping us work out what we need to do next, step by step, starting with a meeting to propose the plan to our Principal. The students will have a lot of work to make this come together, but were enthusiastic and motivated to make the necessary changes. Our aim is to get it looking better sometime during the summer term, so we have lots to be keeping us busy!