NWP Directors' report 2017
Annual report for the period of activity Jan – Dec 2017.
Directors: Simon Wrigley and Jenifer Smith
Publications:
Research:
Partnerships:
NWP keynotes and workshops:
Writing residential:
Teachers' writing groups:
Website:
Simon Wrigley and Jenifer Smith
January 2018
*Extract from Occold’s 2017 inspection report:
“The quality of written work is exceptional. Enlisting expert support from within your governing body and your good links with the University of East Anglia helps pupils to develop a love of writing. You and your staff model good writing techniques. Suitable books are chosen for pupils to write about. You use the history and geography of the local area well to prompt ideas and research topics.”
Directors: Simon Wrigley and Jenifer Smith
Publications:
- Editors for 2019 English in Education special edition on ‘Writing’, Jeni Smith and Mari Cruice, have put out call for papers. Jeni, Mari and Simon met at the RSA in London (14 Nov) to discuss future NWP publications.
- Jeni, Emily Rowe and Simon have written a chapter for inclusion in Reclaiming the Curriculum tbp Crown House May 2018
- Lorna Smith (NWP Bristol) has written chapter ‘Creative spaces for developing independent writing with English teachers’ in ‘Students, Places and Identities in English and the Arts’ tbp Routledge 2018
Research:
- Visits were made to schools in East Anglia where there are teachers who are a part of NWP. Occold Primary School, Suffolk, is the focus for a study of writing from 4 – 11. Other schools visited included Camestone Primary, Bedford, and St Pauls School, Milton Keynes where a longitudinal study of KS3/4 writers is in its fifth year.
- Jeni has convened a group of university lecturers in order to strengthen the presence of NWP research, publications, and approaches in ITE.
Partnerships:
- Partnership with UEA was strengthened through meetings with Richard Andrews, the new Head of the School of Education. The Writing Teachers group continue to provide the context for an MA module in Writing Pedagogy.
- Partnership with the Whitechapel Art Gallery was re-established through meetings with the Education officer, Kirsty Lowry. Simon and Jeni led an NWP workshop for teachers at the Whitechapel on 22 June.
- Simon worked with EMC to read through pupils’ writing on National Writing Day (21 June)
- Teachers and children in East Anglia contributed to National Writing Day by writing and sending postcards.
NWP keynotes and workshops:
- (18 March) Jeni Smith, Emily Rowe and Georgia, gave a TED Talk: ‘Writing from the Inside Out’ at TEDex, Norwich.
- Cardiff Met: Simon led NWP workshop for students (20 March)
- Alperton Academy: Simon led NWP workshop for teachers (12 June)
- NATE conference (23/24 June) Theresa Gooda and Jemma Rigby (NWP West Sussex) led writing workshop;
- (4 Sept) Camestone Primary School, Bedford: Simon led NWP workshop
- (30 Oct) Cambridge University, Simon led NWP workshop for Homerton English students
- (2 Nov) The University of Bedfordshire, Simon led NWP workshop at Bedford Fellowship Writers’ Forum
- (10-12 Nov) Jeni represented NWP at NAWE conference in York.
Writing residential:
- Jeni organised the second NWP residential at High Leigh, Hoddesdon, Herts (25-27 Oct). It was attended by 15 teachers/lecturers from 7 different NWP writing groups. A third NWP residential is planned for Oct 2018.
Teachers' writing groups:
- In June a survey of NWP group leaders was undertaken to find out numbers of teachers involved, patterns, styles and frequency of meetings. The results were reported on the website blog.
- 4 new NWP teachers’ writing groups were launched in 2017: Bedford (7 Jan); Leyburn, North Yorkshire (11 Feb); Stevington, north Beds (26 July); Glasgow (11 Oct).
- As of Dec 2017, there are 20 NWP teachers’ writing groups (up from 17 in Dec 2016):
- Bedford: Simon Wrigley
- Brighton, Sussex: Theresa Gooda
- Bristol University: Lorna Smith
- Cambridge: Alison Binney
- Cardiff: Lisa Tippings
- Eastbourne: Rachel Crystal
- Glasgow: Lisa Hamilton
- Halifax: Laura Ovenden
- Ipswich: Jenifer Smith
- Leyburn, North Yorkshire: Sarah Beveridge
- Lincoln: Stephanie Wilkinson
- London (Free Spaces): Mari Cruice
- London (Islington Secondary): Emma Simpson
- London (Whodunit): Simon Wrigley
- Milton Keynes - teachers: Emma Exelby
- Norwich (UEA Writing teachers): Jenifer Smith
- Occold, Suffolk: Jenifer Smith
- Oxford: Isy Mead
- Reading: Rachel Roberts
- Stevington, north Beds: Tricia Lennie
Website:
- The NWP Website (nwp.org.uk) continued to grow, and blogs continued to be posted monthly. 228 teachers have expressed online interest in joining NWP writing groups (up from 193 in 2016). There have been 102 Contacts through the website (up from 52 in 2016). In the week ending 6 Jan 2018 there were 868 visitors (up from 712 on 7 Jan 2017) and 3,651 page views (up from 3,039 on 7 Jan 2017).
Simon Wrigley and Jenifer Smith
January 2018
*Extract from Occold’s 2017 inspection report:
“The quality of written work is exceptional. Enlisting expert support from within your governing body and your good links with the University of East Anglia helps pupils to develop a love of writing. You and your staff model good writing techniques. Suitable books are chosen for pupils to write about. You use the history and geography of the local area well to prompt ideas and research topics.”