Enjoyed a great visit to Anfield Primary School this morning - a lovely school surrounded by beautiful hills and forests in Hong Kong's New Territories.Was great to meet some of their staff and discuss potential plans for the future. Watch this space!

Presenting on 'Inclusion and ethnic minority learners in primary (elementary) education', with Dr Helen Hanna (Leeds Trinity University). National Pingtung University ( 國立屏東大學 ), Southern Taiwan. Our excellent hosts! (From L-R) Dr Lee-Feng, Dr Ya-Ling, Dr Helen Hanna (Leeds Trinity) and me (ARTiculate Education) How to build an inclusive classroom? That was the question for our discussion today at a teaching workshop and lecture at National Pingtung University in Taiwan. Dr Hanna presented on her innovative research in the UK and South Africa about how primary schools include ethnic minority learners in their classrooms and some of the challenges and implications for practitioners. Discussing the impact of picture books on teaching literacy I was able to add a practical slant on the discussion by presenting on developing empathy in learners through creative literacy teaching, primarily drama to generate discussion...

I wrote the following article for publication on the TES online 'Subject Genius' blog series. The original article can be found at: https://www.tes.com/blog/engaging-your-rogue-ones-bringing-star-wars-classroom Engaging your Rogue Ones: bringing Star Wars into the classroom Not that long ago, in a primary school just down the road, a young boy - let’s call him Luke Schoolboy – was in a rut. Disenchanted with Darth Teacher’s regime, rebellion was most definitely in the air. Bringing his encyclopaedic knowledge of Star Wars into his timetable, however, turned this Phantom Menace into a Jedi Master. As the latest film instalment hits our cinema screens this year, bringing Star Wars into the classroom is a sure way to get your rogue ones engaged in literacy lessons. Luke Schoolboy is a character many primary teachers would easily recognise. Year 5, disengaged with his work, disruptive and simply not making any progress, especially in writing. With this in mind, I was asked...

I am delighted to announce a new training course for primary teaching assistants. Supporting Creative Writers is specially designed to help staff engage and guide children through the writing process. The full-day course is on Friday 11th November 2016 at Bowery Cafe and Visual Arts Centre , Headingley, Leeds. See the poster below for details! To book a place or for more information, please email me . 

Course title: Becoming a DIY Writer by Stefan Kucharczyk Venue: Pudsey Lowtown Primary School, Leeds Monday 5th September 2016 Forget the back-to-school, doom and gloom Facebook memes, the start of a new term is a chance to bounce around new ideas and get back to being creative (even if it doesn't seem like that at 7am in the morning).  What better way to get started than spending time discussing ideas for writing with the wonderful staff at Pudsey Lowtown Primary in Leeds. I was asked to deliver a teacher training session focused on embedding the writing process, especially how to get children in a position to write and how to help them edit and redraft their work afterwards. The school are embarking on a new direction with their literacy planning this half term, using picture books as inspiration for getting children acting, talking and writing. To prepare them, we looked at ways to unlock the mysteries of Armin Greder's chilling tale, The Island.  ...

Macbeth Creative writing workshop, KS2 Macbeth is a blood-drenched, gory and spooky tale. To o gruesome for little ones? Apparently not! The Year 4 and 5 children I have been working with this half term have become completely immersed in the Scott ish play.  As well as getting the children to write short playscripts, developing the climactic s howdown between Macbeth and Macduff (more on this at a later date), my groups ha ve designed some concept posters for the play. The children chose a colou r and symbol that represented some aspect of the play (bloody red, royal purple, a black cat for the wi tches, a chess p iece for the king) and overlayed it with words that help tell the story. We used emulsion paint and big worn-out brushes (the ones at the back of the cu pboard that nobody uses...) to achieve a battle-worn, scratchy effect. Gory blood sp latters w ent dow n a treat to o! Here are some fine examples! Royal Shakespeare Company, take note! ...

Sakura, Sakura!   Creative writing workshop, KS2 Children inspiring their writing with a trip to the school garden! Spring has well and truly sprung! Old news for most in the Northern Hemisphere, I know, but as the cherry tree at the end of my garden has now exploded into a cloud of pink blossom, the beautiful growing season is hard to miss.  This natural inspiration is priceless and, following on from a workshop about iconic Japanese print The Great Wave, provides the perfect backdrop for some writing on the Japanese Hanami cherry blossom (sakura) festival. Using a selection of Hiroshige and Hokusai woodblock prints as inspiration, my group spent the morning outside in the school garden getting up close and blossomy with the pink blooms. Following their senses, the children developed a vocabulary bank featuring precise verbs (floating, dancing, waving, gliding and so on) and evocative adjectives (silky, glossy, transparent, baby pink, sweet aroma and many m...