Context

Three years ago our school targeted writing as an area of concern. It became obvious to staff that children did not engage in writing activities easily and found generating ideas sometimes difficult. The Everybody Writes project in conjunction with additional stimuli helped us to address this problem. 

Attitudes towards writing and attainment before the project

“I find it very hard to write as I don’t have a very good imagination.” — John, aged 8

“I don’t like writing stories because they’re boring.” — Lily, aged 8

Aims & principles

We wanted to make writing fun and take away the fear some children have about writing. We thought it was important to provide them with something new and give everyone the chance to get involved, be inspired and enthusiastic.

In Practice

Following our first inspiring Everybody Writes meeting in November 2008 we held a staff meeting to share our thoughts and make decisions about how and what we proposed to do. As our first task we set the date for our Everybody Writes week in June 2009. 

Next we set up information folders for each year group on the school network which had links to relevant websites such as Everybody Writes – http://www.everybodywrites.org.uk as well planning and a resource grid.  We arranged for an author, Alan Durant, to be in for the final two days of the week. His focus for individual lessons came from year group teachers. He also ran a workshop for the children identified by staff as gifted and talented.

The theme of our project was “The Nest”. “The Nest” – a giant structure of twigs, leaves and branches, was positioned in the lower branches of a large tree near our school pond area. The week prior to the arrival of the nest, children visited the pond area with the focus on water safety, pond dipping and mini beasts. This was linked to science work. At this point, in preparation, staff ‘found’ unusual objects around which there was a discussion in classes and assemblies.

The arrival of the ‘nest’ and footprints, codes, stones and eggs added to an exciting week. Where did the nest come from? Which creature could it have been? How did it get there? What was it? Why did it come? Who should they contact to tell? Was it safe to go and look at and who should they send in to look at it?
Children visited the pond area with adult supervision trying to answer these questions. A variety of writing activities were planned to encourage enthusiastic imaginative and inspiring ideas.

Details of the work each class produced are as follows:

• The Reception class produced pictures of creatures and labelled them. They also made clay creature models.
• Year 1 made acrostic poems about dinosaurs. They also made non-fiction writing about dinosaurs. They made maps of the pond area.
• Year 2 created safety posters, wrote descriptions and reports about the real and imaginary creatures around the pond and the giant nest.
• Year 3 created news reports and information about plant-eating dinosaurs.
• Year 4 made factual writing about their creature including fact files and illustrated diagrams.
• Year 5 wrote newspaper reports and news readings.
• Year 6 made a giant log book consisting of a daily account of the nest and any new information about it. They wrote coded messages and emails, newspaper reports, newsletters and news broadcasting [including filming and sound recordings]

Year 6’s Roving Reporters news stories can be seen on the Moorfield School website http://www.moorfield.stockport.sch.uk in the News section:

“The Mystery of the Pond” on 24th June 2009
“Further News from the Pond” on 24th June 2009
“Roving Reporter” section on 26th June 2009.

Examples of pupils work

Partnerships

We would like to thank the following people for their time, effort, and enthusiastic support:
Ian Marshall – Groundsman, Our local Community Police Officer, Paul Tolley – Head teacher of Daven Primary School, Mrs Herbert, Mrs Moss – for keeping their children away from their back gardens, Sue Steele at our local bookshop Simply Books, Alan Durant – author, and all staff, parents and children at Moorfield Primary School.

Outcomes

Homework for the parents
Due to the enormous amount of interest from the children, our school was approached by parents and grandparents about the mystery of the pond. To capture this enthusiasm we wrote to parents, carers and grandparents inviting them to use their imagination and complete some ‘homework’ for us – to write creatively about the giant nest and the pond area.

We were inundated with the response in a huge variety of forms of writing. Newspaper items, stories, poems, pictures and collages came flooding in. We made four parent, carer and grandparent booklets to show off their work. We also photocopied their work and displayed it on Open Evening in and around the pond area. The pond area became a frequently visited place for children and adults to visit.

A compilation of work was sent to our local bookshop, Simply Books, where it was displayed and read by customers.

Attitudes and attainment after the project

“It was very exciting! We explored the pond area. My daddy did a ‘Ptlearnadon’ for his homework! My daddy thought it was good,” — Harry, age 7
“Very exciting! We enjoyed doing the work on what could be in the eggs. Really loved the collage work and like the police tape around the nest as my dad’s a ‘Copper’,” — Nathan, age 10
“I found it fascinating and interesting. I liked going to see the eggs and how it developed. It was really weird and extravagant! ” — Faye, age 11
“I was in school council. We wrote the safety rules for visiting the pond area. We also went round to the pond area with Alan Durant and did some writing there. We had our picture taken by the newspaper reporter,” — Madison, age 10
“I worked alongside the author and some other children which was amazing. We made log books which had some really useful ideas to help us with our writing,” — Emma, age 11
“I liked the blue eggs. They made me happy. My mummy loved doing the homework. She did ‘The Mystery of the Pond’ report,” — Evie, age 7

Legacy

In terms of products resulting from the project:

• Giant log book
• Coded wheels
• Four ‘Mystery of the Pond Area’ booklets containing children’s writing as well as Parents, Carer, Grandparents and Friends of Moorfield booklets of writing.
• Films [made in MovieMaker]

In terms of how writing has changed in the school:

• Improved use of ICT tools with children – microphones, mini sound buttons, cameras and video cameras.
• More parents and children are visiting the website in order to see what is happening next at Moorfield.
• The ICT Club is now producing a half-termly newsletter and featuring school competitions in addition to newsletters that were previously just written for their own class classes.
• Our “Roving Reporter” feature, a journalistic project where children investigate what is happening at school and then write reports, is now available on the school website so that it can be read by all.
• We now have a planned annual creative week each summer term, which will always include writing in some way.
• There is more interest in the pond area and there have been more visits to the pond by all classes.
• The school has invested in extra resources, such as coded message books and fiction and non-fiction which link to the curriculum as well as the giant nest topic.

Resources

Below is a list of the items that we used for the project – some things that we already had and some things we had to purchase.

                                                                                                               

Resources	Already available	Need to purchase/obtain
Video camera
Microphones
Den building
Camera
Camouflage for stake   out
Dinosaur small world
Microphone buttons
Footprints
Non-fiction dinosaur   books
Stories about dinosaurs
Poems about dinosaurs.
Microphones
Digital cameras
Reclaimed materials
Food
Camera
Blanket
We are going on a Bear   Hunt
Plaster of Paris
Plastic tubs
Plasticine
Access to the internet
Non-fiction books
Straw
Speakers	Alan Durant / Community Police / ‘Scientist’
Video
Giant Log Book
Bulletin Board/flip   chart

Our local book supplier [Simply Books] provided us with books and resources to fit each year group’s interest from their planning grid. The school invested £1500 in books. The author, Alan Durant visited school for two full days costing £900. Costs for extra resources came in at £300.

We found the following projects and resources on the Everybody Writes website useful in planning our own project:

• http://www.everybodywrites.org.uk/
• http://www.everybodywrites.org.uk/everybody-writes-day/reporting-from-the-dinosaur-dig/
• http://www.everybodywrites.org.uk/everybody-writes-day/reporting_on_an_alien_landing/
• http://www.everybodywrites.org.uk/writing-games/

Final thought

The involvement and support this project experienced from parents and family members astounded us. Their undiscovered talents influenced the whole school experience of an Everybody Writes project.

“The Mystery of the Pond created energy, co-operation and imagination which united the whole school community.” — Class Teacher

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