At Arvon we believe anyone can be a writer. Since 1968 we have been running residential creative writing courses for schools, groups and individuals. Each year we organise over 40 weeks with schools and groups from across the UK (and beyond). Five days that can ignite a life-long love of creative writing.
- A chance for your students to spend five days living together in a beautiful location, immersed in words, tutored by two published writers (from genres of your choice, and selected in consultation with you) along with a guest writer who visits midweek.
- Five days of group workshops, individual tutorials, time and space for students to develop their work, evening readings.
- Our centres provide the perfect environment for imagination to thrive and for writing and language skills to improve. The experience can also help with self-belief, confidence and communication skills. For many, these five days can be life-changing. Our centres are located in Devon, Shropshire and Yorkshire.
- Our school weeks are for 16 pupils, accompanied by two teachers acting in loco parentis. The weeks are generally for young people aged 11 and over, although each year we also run several primary school weeks for Year 6 pupils.
We also run bespoke projects such as Mother Tongues, working with multilingual young people, and Writing The Game – exploring creative writing with pupils who love football but are less engaged with English and writing. See below for more information on each.
We are always keen to develop new schools. If you have any questions or would like to make a booking please contact Joe on 0207 324 2562 or email joe.bibby@arvon.org
BENEFITS
Five days at Arvon can be life-changing. Students (and their teachers) have commented on:
- Expanded imagination
- Enhanced creativity
- Improved writing, literacy and language skills
- Engagement and enjoyment in learning
- Development of self-esteem , confidence, social skills and team working
- A new passion for writing
- An experience of independent living
THE STRUCTURE OF AN ARVON WEEK
The weeks are residential. They last from 4pm on a Monday afternoon until 10am on a Saturday morning.
Arrival: Between 4pm and 5pm on Monday
Departure: 10am on Saturday (or Friday after lunch if you have a younger group.)
Tuesday – Friday Morning: Group writing workshops led by the tutors
Tuesday – Friday Afternoon: Tutorials (each student sees each tutor for a detailed one-to-one feedback session) and free writing time.
Tuesday evening: Tutor reading
Wednesday evening: Guest reading
Thursday evening: A free night; some groups arrange readings where students read published writing, or teachers may want to organise another activity.
Friday evening: A celebration with students reading from work that they have produced during the course.
CONTACT
Joe Bibby
Learning and Participation Coordinator
Telephone: 020 7324 2554
Email: learning@arvon.org
School Case Studies
Dersingham Primary & Lathom Junior Schools
Schools
In January 2018, a group of Year 5 and 6 pupils, aged 9-11, from two linked primary schools in the London…
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Writing the Game
Schools
Writing the Game is one of our flagship projects with school pupils. It channels young people’s love of football to engage…
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Mother Tongues
Schools
Over the last four years Arvon has pioneered Mother Tongues, a multi-lingual creative writing programme funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation….
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Freebrough Academy
Schools
The young people were able to read, write, think independently and attend one to one feedback sessions with the published writers…
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