Emily, Thea & Jo

Emily Davis, aged 12, has always had a passion for creative writing. Three years ago, when she felt that the structure of school was restricting her creativity, she asked her mum if there was something she could do after school to keep writing stories.

Emily started at The Writing Workshop in 2017.

“There’s a lot of variety and it’s just really fun,” said Emily. “It really helps. I can think of ideas for stories really quickly now compared to before I did The Writing Workshop.” 

Both girls enjoy the opportunity to explore different writing topics each week, and each term is themed to provide a range of different writing forms. The term focused on Genre writing was one of Emily’s favourites.

“It’s fun and really creative in that you can take your stories where you want them to go.”

Thea, now nine, joined soon after her sister.

“I like that when I have so many ideas that come into my head I can just write them all down,” said Thea. “Sometimes I write some really funny ones.”

As well as reading out at the end of each workshop, Thea often takes her stories to school to read to her teacher and class.  “I’ve definitely seen an improvement in my writing. When I started I found that when I wrote at school my writing was so much better,” she said.

The Myths and Legends theme was the most memorable one for Thea.

Jo, Emily and Thea’s mother, has also noticed the difference The Writing Workshop has made over the years: “It’s fun and really creative in that you can take your stories where you want them to go.

“All of those things are great for confidence and public speaking . . . it really helps being able to read your writing out in a non-judgemental space and I think that’s really important.”

Bernard’s story-based teaching style has been crucial to the effectiveness of the workshops and Emily and Thea’s overall enjoyment of them.

“I like it when Bernard tells his own story at the beginning because that also helps with starting off when you’re writing,” said Emily.

“He’s also really funny,” adds Thea.

“The children have been coming for three years and Bernard’s never repeated himself,” says Jo. “There has been something new every single term, which has been amazing.”

Outside of The Writing Workshop and school Emily has achieved great things with her creative writing. Recently she and Jo challenged themselves by participating in the National Novel Writing Month, commonly known as NaNoWriMo, and in the past Emily has written for the Sarah Brennan competition, winning twice and once placing third.  

Both Emily and Thea look forward to many more terms at The Writing Workshop.

Emily, Thea and Jo spoke with Emily Gibbs.

 Want your kids to explore their creativity? Find an after-school workshop near you.