Special Days and Writing

We have special days for all sorts of things now, including Talk Like A Pirate Day (19 September), World Frog Day (20 March), Towel Day (25 May) and the one I heartily approve of - International Chocolate Day (13 September) so it's good to know that schools are devoting a special day to celebrate writing. Everybody Writes Day takes place this year on Thursday, 21 October when primary and secondary schools leave off the curriculum to indulge in writing activities of one sort or another. Everyone has to participate, not just the pupils and staff but site manager, catering staff and parent volunteers too. This is a Booktrust project (Booktrust, for those who don't know, is an independent national charity based in London for the promotion of reading for pleasure) in partnership with The National Literacy Trust (also a London-based indy charity that changes lives through literacy). http://www.booktrust.org.uk/ and http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/

Planning your own Everybody Writes Day

You can begin planning your own day by logging onto the site at http://www.everybodywrites.org.uk/ and downloading some PDFs of guides for both primary and secondary schools or ask for hard copies. You can also download the logo and find some advice on publicising your Day. If you want to know what schools have done in the past, watch a video clip of Macaulay Primary School's Everybody Writes Day (I tried to download it but you can't be good at everything) or check on activities in other schools suggested on the site. Your project could involve staging an alien spaceship crash landing in the playground to trigger a school newspaper project, a series of after-school workshops for parents and children to write a family history, or even working with a graphic designer and your local authority to make some leaflets promoting recycling to teenagers. Imagination is everything in the writing world and without that writers would have nothing to write about.

The University of Sheffield evaluated Everything Writes in 2009 to see what effect it had on pupils' attitudes to writing and on their standard of work. The report can be downloaded from www.everybodywrites.org.uk/download.php?file=/downloads/EW_final_evaluation_2009.pdf  Their research found that the project had a positive impact on:

• pupils, teachers and schools;
• boys' attitudes to writing;
• children who are reluctant writers and those at risk of underachieving.

Other literary days worth noting in the diary:

• World Literary Day (8 January)
• World Book Day (14 March)
• International Children's Book Day (2 April)
• International Special Librarian's Day (13 April)
• International Creativity and Innovation Day (21 April)
• World Copyright Day (23 April)
• World Press Freedom Day (3 May) and
• International Literacy Day (8 September)

Maybe someone will think about launching an International Blogging (or Stop Blogging) Day soon...or even a Month - ever heard of Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month? I'll stop now before it becomes obsessive.