News from the Writing Lab

Last week saw the concluding event of an innovative schools project between New Writing North and schools from the North East’s Catholic Schools Partnership. Students from Carmel in Darlington, St John’s in Bishop Auckland, St Anthony’s in Sunderland, and Our Lady & St Bede from Stockton all read work and talked about writing projects they’ve been working on for the past six months with funding from Bridge North East.

The Writing Lab project began in March with partnerships of pupils and teachers from eight schools invited to spend a day behind the scenes of the Discovery Museum trying out different styles of writing. Inspired by this experience, all eight schools from across the region applied for a small grant to run their own writing projects in their schools and communities. Projects on show last night included a creative writing club for Year 7s run by older pupils, a writing workshop at a local museum run by Year 10s for younger pupils, a creative writing website, and pupil-led writing workshops for young people just starting secondary school. In all young writers worked with over 250 younger pupils in their schools, and many of the projects are continuing in the individual schools.