Why not invite our Writing Witches to come to your school and share their story-writing spells? Fresher has devised a FREE wicked workshop to show children just how easy writing stories can be. Armed with a cauldron and a wand or two, the Writing Witches will help identify all the ingredients needed for conjuring up truly magical stories. Expect potions for prose, chants for confidence and spells that are NOTHING to do with spelling!
All children will have the opportunity to enter Fresher’s Writing Wizardry Competition and win their height in books. The best will also have their story published in our Fresher Writing Anthology, along with the shortlist from the adult Fresher Writing prize.
The workshop can be adapted to suit your school’s needs, in terms of duration and the number of participating children, although it is broadly aimed at years 3 and 4. To discuss it further, or for more details, please email Emma Scattergood at escattergood@bournemouth.ac.uk
The children had a wonderful time when The Writing Witches came to visit and they were so excited when I told them. When they saw all of the witches dressed up they couldn’t wait to find out what the afternoon would entail. It was really effective planning the story with the incentive of a competition to enter. The writing witches were really good with the children and were there to support them and give them ideas. The children also loved coming up with their own witch/wizard name.” – Miss Young, Teacher, Winton Primary School
A truly magical experience with the Writing Witches from Bournemouth University. My class were completely enthralled and have been eagerly writing stories ever since!” – Mrs Dodd, Year 3 and 4 class teacher, Knighton House School, Dorset
Thank you for visiting our school this week. The pupils had a great time and really enjoyed the enthusiasm of the Writing Witches. The pupils were really inspired to create some magical writing and are enjoying the opportunity to enter the Writing Wizardry competition” – Jakki Rook, Deputy Head, Talbot Heath School, Dorset
The Writing Witches session was engaging and interactive. The children’s own ideas were teased out in a way that led them to feel proud of themselves and raised their self esteem. It was a wonderful opportunity for young children to work with experts and an enjoyable, fun and educational time was had by all!” – Eleanor Griffiths, Teacher, Wool C of E Primary School, Dorset
The visit of the Writing Witches was inspirational – the children gained an insight into story structure and development as well as being hugely motivated to create their own stories. They thoroughly enjoyed the entire process and their love of writing has been sustained – Sam Fuller, Deputy Head, Ringwood Junior School
Our Writing Witches
Our writing witches are all current Bournemouth University students who have a passion to help children write creatively. This years witches are as follows:
Gruesome Grace
Grace is a final year English student at Bournemouth University and was also a Writing Witch in 2015. Her favourite children’s book is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as she has a lot of memories reading it as a child and enjoys the character detail within the well thought out story. Grace’s tip to our young writers is “take any story and change one thing, for example make Cinderella about fish under the sea instead of humans”
Powerful Paige
Paige is also a final year student on Bournemouth University’s BA English course and has previously been a Writing Witch. Paige’s favourite children’s book is The Faraway Tree Stories by Enid Blyton. As a Witch she loves the magical and fantasy elements of the stories and enjoys the way each story explores a new land, meaning you never know where the characters will end up! To our young writers, Paige suggests “think carefully about your characters, setting and the story you want to tell. Make sure your plot has a really exciting point in the middle which will shock your readers and make them want more. Most importantly, have fun!”
Creepy Chelsea
Half way through her second year studying English at Bournemouth University, Chelsea has writing aspirations of her own. Just like Grace, Chelsea also loves J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban but says its so much more than a book to her. It’s full of love, friendship and adventure and taught her that your own dementors can be fought in the end. She encourages our young writers to “read every day. Learning from other writers is a great way to write your own stories. You can see how they develop their stories and, with some practise , you can do the same!”
Eerie Elise
Elise is also a second year English student and wants to be a teacher in the future. Her favourite children’s book is The Gruffalo, because as well as the amazing illustrations, it reverses the roles with the mouse scaring the Gruffalo. When our young writers start writing their stories, Elise would remind them to “use adjectives because they will make your stories much more fun and interesting to read.“
Horrible Hayley
Like Elise and Chelsea, Hayley is also a second year English student. While she loved all book when she was younger if she had to choose a favourite it would have to be The Lottie Project by Jacqueline Wilson. She liked this book in particular as it taught her about the Victorians while also providing an great story. Before the young writers start their stories, Hayley says that “planning is key. Make sure you roughly know where you want your story to go, that way you can focus on your characters and putting in some killer adjectives”
Our Workshops
The Writing Witches had a wickedly wonderful time sharing their story writing spells with Year 2 at Winton Primary School. The little witches and wizards threw themselves into the workshop and wholeheartedly joined in with the writing witches story potion. Soon they were coming up with some fantastic monster creations and magical stories of their own. The creative juices were flowing and there were smiles all around!
The Writing Witches recently visited Knighton House School in Blandford, Dorset, and spent a morning sharing their secrets for magical stories with Years 3 and 4. The children were captivated by the Witches’ story spells and were soon clapping along. Then they got stuck into selecting characters and settings before coming up with fantastical plots of their own, which they wrote, illustrated and presented. It was a truly creative session, with lots of laughs along the way.
