I had a great day at Cefn Primary School today. I’m there as part of the RAISE project, improving writing skills though oracy. I’m staying the whole week here visiting a different school each day. In all, I’m visiting 17 schools in Rhondda, Cynon, Taf.

Where am I? I’m staying just outside Aberdere, which is in the Cynon Valley in South Wales. There’s a pretty view of the lights at night at the cottage I’m staying in. It’s lovely and warm, I’ve got tv and internet so I’m happy. There’s a mountain right above me, so I’ll probably have a walk up it tomorrow.

I’ve been reading my stories and explaining where the ideas come from. Then I ask the children for their own ideas for the characters. I’m amazed how every group comes up with completely different ideas. I do a lot of pulling and pushing, once a direction appears, in the hope of coming up with a basic plot that the children can then work on themselves.

The project is helping me too, actually. Talking about the ideas from a writing point of view clarifies my ideas about the stories and characters. Talking about them, I’ve come up with a few ideas myself, and have to try and remember them and get them written down after school, before I forget.