Schools Programme

“It’s absolutely fantastic when an author’s visit creates such a positive buzz among the students. The ripple effect carries on for a long time afterwards.”

Each year we offer an inspiring programme of work in primary and secondary schools in Bradford, Leeds and the Wharfe Valley. It could involve workshops, author events, a special project such as ‘a whole primary school poetry slam in a day’, or one of our unique ‘student led events’ where we work with a small group of pupils who, with our support, plan, organise and deliver an author event for their feeder primary schools.

We tailor our work to your school’s priorities and develop it in partnership with your school librarians, English teachers and other staff so your event will be unique. It might be encouraging boys who are reluctant writers or students who are new to English to enjoy a fun writing workshop; inviting a young poet to inspire your GSCE groups; a top level seminar with a Forward prize winner like Daljit Nagra for your A Level English students, or enabling your pupils to hear from a leading writer like Michael Morpurgo, Malorie Blackman or Jeremy Strong at a special matinee performance.

We’ve spent years delivering events in school so we know how to create the right atmosphere and help you make sure students are fully involved and have the best time.

Costs: We operate an affordable sliding scale and we’re always particularly keen to work with schools whose students are less likely than others to be able to come to Festival events.

If you’d like us to come into your school, visit an event or would like to know more contact us.

“It completely re-vitalised my confidence”

Your pupils will also be encouraged to take part in our slams, join our Young Writers Groups or Story Explorers, enter our writing competitions and come and enjoy other Festival events with leading authors such as Jacqueline Wilson or take part in our young people’s workshop day, WordsFest.

Along with coming into school we also welcome groups of pupils to Festival events with a free teacher ticket for every ten pupils. There are lots of events with links to the curriculum for pupils interested in science, history, politics and current affairs, art, geography, poetry and fiction and we’ll send you a list in July so you know what to plan.

Free Taster Tickets for Teachers – come and sample the Festival for yourself!
Teachers in Primary or Secondary School in Leeds or Bradford LEAs are warmly invited to bring a friend and come and sample a Festival Event for free. Please email us for more information.