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02476 347697
English Conference 2024
Igniting Children’s Imaginations
Led by Neill Cameron & Ben Payne
Writing is a concern in many Primary Schools as children struggle to make-up for lost learning in an aspect of English which can be tricky at the best of times. Although mastering transcriptional accuracy is important, we also need writers in our classrooms who are engaged and have something to say.
At this year’s conference, leaders will have the opportunity to have fun and think deeply about how to truly immerse students in the writing process.
We will have an interactive session: ‘Comics in the Classroom’ – led by Neill Cameron, cartoonist, writer and illustrator. Neill will talk to us about how comics – both reading them and making them – can be used in the classroom to help children develop vital literacy skills, and to instil a love of reading for pleasure that can last a lifetime. The session will include lots of ideas and practical suggestions for comics-based activities that can be tried by even the most confirmed ‘can’t draw, won’t draw’ of children (and, for that matter, adults).
We will also hear from Ben Payne, co-director and co-founder of ‘The Ministry of Stories’, who will explore the principles of ‘The Ministry of Stories’ methodology in this hands-on workshop where colleagues will experience what it feels like to be a writer. This will be an immersive experience in which delegates will arrive with thoughts and ideas and leave as published authors.
DATE: Monday 29th January 2024
TIME: 09:30-15:30
VENUE: Windmill Village Hotel, Golf Club and Spa, Birmingham Road, Allesley
Coventry, CV5 9AL
COST: £200 per person
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Schools who subscribe to the Gateway Alliance – ENGLISH subject leader network have 1 FREE place per school.
Costs will be incurred for additional places and for schools that do not subscribe. Please contact us for details.
BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL
If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact us on 02476 347697 or email: info@gatewayalliance.co.uk
Neill Cameron is a cartoonist and writer, creator of the graphic novel series ‘Mega Robo Bros’, the ‘Freddy VS School’ illustrated novels, and is a frequent contributor to weekly children’s comic ‘The Phoenix’.
Neill is a former artist-in-residence at The Story Museum in Oxford, where he contributed several large-scale comic strip installations and continues to be involved in comics-based education and activities, including curating the exhibition ‘KABOOM: The Art of Creating Comics’ in 2023, and running a monthly Comics Club group for young cartoonists.
Neill frequently travels the country giving workshops in schools, libraries and at festivals, and is a passionate advocate for the role comics can play in developing literacy skills and encouraging children’s creativity.
Ben Payne has had a successful career across the performing arts and literature as a theatre writer, director, producer and artistic facilitator. In 2010 he co-founded the Ministry of Stories (MoS) with Lucy Macnab and the writer Nick Hornby. MoS has now worked with over 10,000 children in East London, trained many thousands of volunteers to be the children’s writing mentors, and has replicated this across the UK. Along the way, he got to help create projects where young people launched an album of their own songs, delivered speeches in the Houses of Parliament, and invented and ran an independent country, all through their own writing.
