Read something imaginative, such as CS Lewis’ ‘Narnia’ series, which is wholesome family reading, or Tolkien”s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ or Philip Pullman.

Read JK Rowling’s play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child together as a family, taking parts.

Read short stories – an excellent way of encouraging short-story writing.

Read together as a family, read to your children.

Listen to a wonderful storyteller, such as Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter – wonderful for long car journeys.

Visit a physical library such as Waterstones and ask for recommendations – librarians are wonderfully knowledgeable about young people’s books.

Tell stories – to your children about their childhood or yours.

Create stories about absolutely anything – the cow in the field, the pilot above, the family in the car next door, the baby rabbits nesting in the garden centre…

Create a family story: one person starts with an opening line and take it in turns to continue the story. Then try with the same first line and change the genre.

Watch stories come to life!

Go to the theatre– for instance The Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park to see stories enacted.

Watch films – not just in the cinema, but choose classics as an introduction to great literature.
Write a playsciptf or your family or friends to act out.

Stimulate vocabulary:

Have a colour day: how many different shades of green can you see and name?
(Use paint cards, crayon names and synonyms. Hint: colours are often compared to food, vegetation or jewels.)

Have a shape day, a sound day, a smelly day, a touching day….

Collect homonyms …can you make up jokes or puns using them?

Create newspaper headlines for the day’s events: can you make them alliterate or exaggerated?

Play a guessing game: describe an everyday object without using its name or use: refer to colour, size, weight, touch, scent. Comparing it to something else can be both helpful and mischievously off-putting!

Take clichés, idioms or similes and turn them into your own original creations.

Have a rhyming hour – every sentence needs to end with your chosen rhyme.

Write!

Find instructions on anything: cereal packets, toys, notices and try to turn them into a rap.

Make up a series of haiku on a theme: sweets, dogs, balls…

Write someone else’s diary – a character from your book, your pet, a coin…

Write a thank you letter to someone who deserves it.

Most of all, play with words and have fun!

Locin

Beyond where no one knows, lived the crooked, eight foot tall, broad-as-a-door, Locin. Locin was the wisest of the wisest of the west, but never seemed to show it; disappearing in the depths of his map. He was a mysterious figure, very seldom seen, but friendly too, listening to what you would never expect to be heard. No history was known about Locin’s type, nor where they came from; this was waiting to be discovered. Hidden behind the noisy nostrils of the wizard lay the grey, shrivelled, restless eyes of fortune, seeing every secret to be seen. Beneath the mossy green, natural crown upon his head, the ash-coloured, as long as a hell hog’s tusks locks of Locin, reached the bottom of his robe. Locin wore the same swamp-like robe he had worn ever since he earned the Condral (the most powerful weapon in the universe, that can destroy all evil at once when gathered together), and never changed his appearance. No more clues has Locin left, but I wonder who will be the first to reveal the west…

Egrots

Far East beneath the miserable Moaning Forest lie the great nests of the Egrots, the nearest living place to Hell. Creatures that even dare to go near their territory never make it back alive. Egrots are quick thinking. You would think they strike at any sort of prey they can get their talons on, but no. Egrots are extremely fussy eaters, and only enjoy the juicy fresh meat from a recent kill, either alive or dead. They always hunt in packs, or as Locin’s Book of Secrets says, ‘Never they seek alone’. Egrots are gruesome, grizzly eagle-headed creatures with a surprisingly wicked small body. They have ghastly, slit yellow eyes suggesting disease, along with their sickening snotty nose. The most distinctive feature of an Egrot is their fangs. The fangs are slobbered in poisonous saliva which can kill any creature in the Forest.
Egrots aren’t afraid of anything unnatural – or are they?

By Ben Harris (12)

In a quiet street in London, there lived a family. Not a boring, poor or rundown street, nor a deserted street: it was a busy road. Neither a boring, poor or rundown family: these people had many interests.

Their house had a ruby-red rectangular front door, inset with etched glass, with a weathered brass door knob. The door opened, revealing a soft baby blue hall; messy piles of post placed on the radiator, two muddy adult bikes propped up against the wall, shoes slid off – this was an active family.

To the left of the hall was a large sitting room used for gatherings; ahead steep stairs rose to hidden territories. The kitchen – the heart of the family home – was at the end of the hall. This is where the family relaxed. Light and bright (with two large windows and double doors to the garden), dinner cooking, bread baking (always delicious), two heavily laden trunks (with a succession of practical projects always on the go) and clean and dirty crockery decorating the surfaces (not enough servants!).

Practicing punctuation a la Tolkein, by KS, Lady Margaret Schoo

Longest neck-owner in the world
Tallest animal of all time
Tiniest of dainty heads
Stretchiest of thin pink tongues
Titchiest of cute little ears
Spindliest of legs like stilts
In all, a superlative creature!

by Alexander Jarman (6)

A million years ago, there was once a T Rex who had to chew for a very long time because his baby teeth were very blunt.
He was always hungry.
He really wanted to eat a nice juicy piece of yummy turkey.
But he could only eat green leaves.
One morning all his teeth began to fall out of his mouth.
” We lost our teeth too,” said the others.
That night, he felt new teeth sprouting in his mouth.
They were very very sharp.
” I can eat meat now! ” he yelled happily.

The End.

(Lesson 2: with thanks to Rudyard Kipling)

Let me introduce you to Isaac. I met him when he was fifteen going on sixteen. He attends a very good school with competitive entry but, not unlike many young lads, was disaffected with much of his academic study. He was, however, unhappy to be scoring D grades in his English class papers and school exams.

His parents spoke to me about his lack of motivation and asked if I would help him.

Three lessons later, he turned to me in wonder, declaring that he was actually enjoying the poetry we were studying.

We then planned a piece of reflective writing which he decided to base on a rugby match where a last-moment try won both the match and a trophy. Later on that term he used this as the inspiration for a controlled assessment at school based on memories. He was awarded an A grade.

He then asked me to help him with his school text ‘ Of Mice and Men’ as he had to redo his assessment, having underperformed initially. We discussed a chapter at a time, with tailored revision notes for support, culminating in a discussion on the role of Lennie. Some weeks later he casually told me that he had scored an ‘A’ in this recent assessment. He hadn’t even told his parents yet! I watched his elder sister’s jaw drop as he then informed his family.

At very short notice I was then asked to help him think through the relationship between Lord and Lady Macbeth in comparison to Carol Ann Duffy’s Miss Havisham. We had a couple of intense sessions brainstorming ideas, looking at passages and analysing the poem. After sitting his third controlled assessment at school his teacher took him to one side and congratulated him on his essay. Today, in the middle of a lesson on how to write persuasively he interrupted, with a grin, ” Oh by the way, did you know that I got an A * for my Macbeth assessment?”

The final proof, of course, is in the examination score.

Predicted a hopeful ‘C’ he actually achieved an ‘A’!

It is hard to say who is the most pleased: the young man himself, his teachers, his parents or his tutor!

All this lad needed was some targeted teaching, some confidence and some help with structuring his writing. He no longer needs my help – he has the confidence he can do this himself. Job done!

1:1 teaching allows time for an individual response tailored to suit specific requirements and for maximum results.

I have been saddened by the announcements that American classics such as

‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘The Crucible’ are to be removed from the GCSE English syllabus.

While Michael Gove may not personally have liked these texts, countless generations of pupils have learned so much more than ‘American English’ from these fine examples of social commentary and literary craftsmanship.

So many, myself included, claim ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ as our all-time favourite novel. Of immediate relevance to emerging teens it has even more resonance for parents, especially single parents and victims of social injustice. But this is far more than a moral guidebook, important as that aspect is. This is a beautifully written, carefully plotted novel that justifies reading, rereading, teaching, learning and re-reading; with ever-growing appreciation for its wry humour and observational sure touch. A classic which is of its time but which transcends both time and place. What a shame to deprive British school children of the opportunity to appreciate this fine text.

The second named ‘banned text’, ‘Of Mice and Men’, is an extraordinary novella that has much to inspire the student of literature. This short story is beautifully crafted: framed with beautiful poetic descriptions that are not only symbolic but which demonstrate some of the finest, most original depictions of both nature and man I have taught. The novel is as much play script as it is prose; with depictions of room sets, gradual progression through the space of four days, artistic manipulation of light and sound effects and how they and the characters impact on each other.  Add to this a keen ear for dialogue and dialect, subtly shifting the readers’ interaction with the characters and yet again, an intense piece of social realism that while firmly placed in the American Depression is a universal exploration of the exploitation of workers, camaraderie, friendship and mis-placed hope.

‘The Crucible’ is, arguably, the most uncomfortable text of this blacklisted trilogy. Yet again, the inevitable rising of religious hysteria, fuelled by corruption amongst the powerful, is surely worthy of study in our times. The characterisation is powerfully depicted and the symbolism, parallels and contrasts that subtly set both scene and character against each other, repays close attention. The nuances of speech and rhetoric enliven the characterisation. This too is worthy of its classic status as a text to be studied as a fine example of historic re-enactment and compelling stagecraft.

While none of these texts are ‘British’ in origin, all three are written in the most compelling English. What a pity if we should determine texts by birthplace rather than merit. How would we feel if American schools removed the works of Shakespeare from their literary cannon? Should we dismiss

TS Eliot because he was born in America? By all means let us celebrate our best writers and be proud of our literary heritage, but let us not limit student’s horizons to the edges of our little island. The study of excellent literature should broaden and challenge both culturally and intellectually.

Longest neck-owner in the world
Tallest animal of all time
Tiniest of dainty heads
Stretchiest of thin pink tongues
Titchiest of cute little ears
Spindliest of legs like stilts
In all, a superlative creature!