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Write a Letter Week is a campaign run by My Child magazine, with support from the National Handwriting Association, and sponsored by Stabilo and Basildon Bond, which will run in February 2008. There will be a resource pack and competitions running alongside the week. The theme of the campaign is 'my local hero' which aims to celebrate the local hero as a vital part of our everyday lives. For more information visit www.mychild.co.uk/
WhatwasHere.com in Liverpool aims to tell history like it's never been told before: by the people who live in Liverpool and know it best. Everyone knows something about the past, whether it happened yesterday, 20 years ago or 500 years ago. Whatwashere.com wants people to contribute what they know, however big or small. The website is funded by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts). They are working in Liverpool with the Liverpool Library Service and a wide range of community organisations. Visit www.whatwashere.com
Young Writing Squads, is a scheme that plucks talented creative writers from primary schools in some of the most deprived areas of Wales and provides them with intensive coaching to express themselves through poetry and stories. Squaddies are not necessarily 'good at English' but teachers and Young Writing Squad organisers describe them as showing 'remarkable promise' from as young as nine. Meetings are held during term and members enjoy visits from guest tutors, who have included the poets Andrew Motion and Benjamin Zephaniah. There are also trips to prestigious arts festivals, such as Hay and the National Eisteddfod, where children can meet authors.
The project has been running since 1996. Academi, the Welsh agency that promotes national literature and writers, oversees the development of squads across Wales. Some local authorities have a squad for English and one for Welsh, and more authorities are expected to develop writing squads. There are around 500 squaddies in Wales, aged between nine and 11, who are encouraged to have their work published by sending it to magazines. For more information visit www.academi.org/what-does-academi-fund/i/130597/
Writing Together was a partnership between Arts Council England, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Primary and Secondary National Strategies, The National Association of Writers in Education, the Poetry Society and Book Trust. It was funded by the Department for Education and Skills.
Writing Together aimed to ensure that, during their life at school, every child encountered opportunities to work with professional writers who inspired them creatively. The Writing Together partnership had provided funding for schools to work with writers as well as running conferences for local authority staff to encourage schools to work with authors. It piloted continuing professional development courses for teachers, showing how different genres of writing could be linked in the classroom. The partnership also organised training for writers who wanted to work in schools, and set up four regional networks for teachers and writers to develop diffrerent ways of working together outside schools. For more information visit www.booktrust.org.uk.
Write Where You Are was a campaign run by NIACE that hoped to inspire adults of all ages to write about their lives in creative and imaginative ways. With a national advertising campaign, a big book tour, downloadable teaching resources and an FAQs section, Write Where You Are helped to strengthen reading and writing skills, and encourage people to give writing a go. For more information visit www.niace.org.uk/ALW/WriteWhereYouAre/Default.htm
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