National contacts
These organisations offer a variety of ways to support teachers, including inset and training for teachers in the areas of creative writing, literacy and poetry; finding a local writer to work in your school and running education projects in schools and in the community.
National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) - http://www.nate.org.uk
NATE provides publications and training to support the teaching of English in schools as well as literature reviews, an online forum for English teachers and classroom resources.
National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) - http://nawe.co.uk
NAWE supports creative writing in all genres and in all community and education settings and produces online resources, publications and training events. It also features the Artscape directory - http://www.artscape.org.uk - a national directory of writers who work in schools.
National Centre for Language and Literacy - http://www.ncll.org.uk
The Centre supports teachers, parents and governors in a wide range of ways - through a unique collection of resources; publications; an extensive programme of courses and conferences; ongoing research; and a membership scheme designed to meet the needs of individual schools. Schools can find authors, illustrators and storytellers for school visits and projects via the NCLL UK-wide database. Contact Pam Brown on for more details.
National Literacy Association - http://www.nla.org.uk
The National Literacy Association campaigns for children’s literacy, operates project work in schools and produces useful publications to support teachers from foundation to Key Stage 4.
National Literacy Trust - http://www.literacytrust.org.uk
The National Literacy Trust links home, school and the wider community to inspire learners and create opportunities for everyone. They support those who work with learners through their innovative programmes, information and research, and bring together key organisations to lead literacy promotion in the UK.
The Arvon Foundation - http://www.arvonfoundation.org/p24.html
The Arvon Foundation runs residential writing courses at a variety of locations across the UK and offers teachers in state funded secondary schools a special grant of £120 towards the full cost of a place on any public course of their choice. Arvon recognises the vital role teachers have in bringing literature and creative writing into young people`s lives, and in igniting their imaginations to write themselves. Teachers’ enthusiasm and commitment is crucial in securing the readers, writers and creative people of the future, so Arvon is committed to supporting teachers’ own creativity.
The Poetry Library - http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/education/
The Poetry Library is the most comprehensive and accessible collection of poetry from 1912 in Britain. Its education department houses a teaching poetry collection (textbooks, classroom anthologies and workbooks), loans books for classroom use, gives advice to young poets and provides information on useful organisations which can help schools with poetry and creative writing, among other services.
Writing Together - http://www.writingtogether.org.uk/
Writing Together was a six-year project that aimed to ensure that, during their life at school, every child encounters opportunities to work with professional writers who inspire them creatively. The project ended in March 2007 but the website includes a step-by-step guide to planning a writer visit, complete with downloadable materials, and links to organizations that help teachers to find writers who are experienced at working in schools. There are also case studies of varying writer in school projects, from a one day visit to a long term cross-curricular programme.
