ORIGINAL pieces of creative writing inspired by the park and fairground were produced by Okehampton College pupils last week, at a workshop run by a leading poet and writer. The workshop began with writer Colin Macfarlane, who works extensively in schools, taking the small group of youngsters out into Simmons Park to work on fragments of poetry. He set about challenging students to look at their surroundings and write in original and innovative ways The Year 10 students developed their ideas over the two days to eventually come up with a piece of GCSE English coursework. Student Lisa Greenslade from Bratton Clovelly said the first morning of the workshop had been fun. She said one of the most interesting things she found to write about in the park was the children?s play area. ?I was describing the play equipment. I went off into a little world of my own and wrote about how the kids felt when they were on the play equipment,? she said. Lisa said Colin?s input had been ?very good? as he knew how to be encouraging and ?help your stories to flow?. Colin Macfarlane said he had been fortunate to be working with a ?very strong group of students?, who had come out with lots of interesting ideas. Colin said: ?The aim of today is to try and get language out of the real world and develop observational and writing skills. ?If they are sat in the classroom, they tend to come up with the same clichés, when you take them outside, they become more philosophical and write with a depth that is almost impossible to reach in a classroom.? Colin said although many of the youngsters had started off writing poetry, it was possible for them to develop their ideas into other forms such as magazine or travel articles. Colin said he was a passionate advocate of the role of creative writing in education. ?I would definitely like to encourage more poetry in schools. Children are less intimidated by the size of a poem and it is possible to learn a lot in a very small space,? he said. The workshop was run jointly by the English faculty and the college?s Gifted and Talented scheme. In all, thirteen children from Year 10 were selected by teachers for the workshop last Wednesday and Thursday, October 18-19. The students taking part were: Scott Wilson, Lisa Greenslade, William Hawkings, Liam Finley, Jamie Lynch, Shivani Price, Stephanie Carrier, Robert Cook, Robert Yells, Chloe Grayling, Joe Horton, Mischa Vertlin and James Ewen. Teacher Kate Diffey said the college have been very fortunate to secure Colin as he is very much in demand in schools and writing centres around the country. Colin has run courses, workshops and residences for organisations including the Arts Council, the Poetry Society and the National Trust. During the past year or so, Colin has been National Year of Reading Headline Writer in Education and official writer in residence for the county of North Somerset. As well as a performing poet, Colin has also been an animation scriptwriter, song lyricist and journalist.
