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inkpots.org Helping young people believe in themselves through creative writing

Helping young people believe in themselves through creative writing support and mentoring Gill Pawley – 07771 231563

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By Gill Pawley on May 18, 2015 in

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Avatar Write Back @writebackuk·

Still on Cloud 9 after yesterday’s Write Back celebration at the @boathousecic. It was such a treat to launch the young people’s latest book and their interactive website surrounded by friends, family and supporters. We could not be prouder of these young people ❤️📖💻🚀

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Avatar Nikki Young @nikki_cyoung·

It’s almost time. The summer workshops at Storymakers start next week. We’re on an early-bird timetable (8.30 a.m. start) for 1hr Mon-Thurs mornings for the next 6 weeks. Places booking up, but some still available: https://bit.ly/3ePAnz5

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Avatar Inkpots @Inkpots1·

Sharing this wonderful message for all year 6 leavers

Cressida Cowell@CressidaCowell

Tweeting again this CONGRATULATIONS message to all the wonderful Year Six-ers leaving primary school this week. It’s been a tricky year, but you and your teachers have all done brilliantly. Lots of love ❤️ and have a very happy summer☀️
@Booktrust

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Avatar Inkpots @Inkpots1·

We made a handout for some of our families with some creative ideas for the summer. Please do share or download if it's of interest too.

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Avatar Inkpots @Inkpots1·

Happy Friday! Particularly to those schools finishing today for the holidays. You made it!

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As we reach the end of the school year, so we’ve

As we reach the end of the school year, so we’ve finished our group sessions for this term too.⁠
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It’s been just over a year since we took our groups online – and what a journey! And as we are receiving lovely notes of thanks from families, it’s our turn to show our immense gratitude to our Inkpots community.⁠
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Our thanks go out to all the young people who help make the Inkpots groups such special places. You’re all totally awesome!⁠
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We’d also like to thank the parents who help make the online groups run smoothly. A big shout out goes to the authors and artists who have visited us and shared so much creative joy. Thank you all.⁠
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The past 12 months have thrown up challenges like no other times. We wouldn’t have got through so much without the support and encouragement of the schools which support us, colleagues from other writing organisations (tipping our caps at @writebackuk and @writesparks in particular here) and individuals who are always supporting us from the sidelines. ⁠
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We wish you all a creative, peaceful and nurturing summer.⁠
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(Just in case you’re interested we do have a new group for ten-year-olds starting in September. Watch out for further details or DM.)⁠

Thinking about all the families on their final wee

1:1 mentoring sessions may sound a bit stiff and f

1:1 mentoring sessions may sound a bit stiff and formal. But here at Inkpots they’re anything but. Supportive and structured, yes. And with positive, measurable outputs for sure. But these sessions are fun and light too and the needs and interests of young people are always prioritised.⁠
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You can find out much more – and see if it sounds like something which would suit your son or daughter – by booking in for a free, no obligation chat.⁠ I’d love to hear from you, whatever point you’re at.
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The link is in our bio – just click to go to the booking page.

For the past six weeks, we've been lucky enough to

For the past six weeks, we've been lucky enough to work alongside our intern from Sussex University @summer_raselma.⁠
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It's Summer's last day with us today and we're off later for a chocolate celelbration.⁠
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But also wanted to say publicly a huge thank you to Summer for all her creativity and ideas - especially in transforming the Instagram grid and stories.⁠
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Wishing you all the best for your third year of studies too Summer!

Good friendships are worth their weight in gold. T

Good friendships are worth their weight in gold. They can come in all guises and are a source of joy.⁠
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Some friendships will have been tested over the past 18 months. Many of us feel we’ve changes. Moved on. Want different things.⁠
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But the slower days of summer are a great chance to re-connect, savour and nurture those friendships which mean the world to us.⁠

We’re looking forward to an #inkpotssummer when

We’re looking forward to an #inkpotssummer when we get a chance to boost batteries and nourish creativity. Simple nurturing activities are the order of the day.⁠
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We’ve got a new ideas sheet for you to download too for your summer (designed by our super creative intern @summer_raselma). It’s free to access and the link is in the bio.⁠
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We’d love to know your summer plans. Let us know in the comments.⁠

At Inkpots, we loved @louisareid 's 'Gloves Off'.

At Inkpots, we loved @louisareid 's 'Gloves Off'. Its emotional, powerful and beautifully written in verse. ⁠
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Our intern @summer_raselma read it as one of her first jobs here and absolutely loved it! Check out her review on the Inkpots website or the link in bio and give it a read yourself!⁠
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https://inkpots.org/gloves-off-by-louisa-reid/

Last year, we received funding from the Arts Counc

Last year, we received funding from the Arts Council to produce material to support the move from primary to secondary school for young people and their families.⁠
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Many families found the information helpful, so we’ve updated the handout and are sharing it again. A bit of planning now should mean a relaxed summer for everyone!⁠
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Details for downloading the free info are in our bio. Please do share with other families who may be interested. ⁠

Each month, I work with a small number of young pe

Each month, I work with a small number of young people on a 1:1 basis, supporting them with creative mentoring.⁠
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During the school summer holidays, I have a few slots available for young creative age 10 – 16 years. My sessions are fun and light and focus on what the young person enjoys. We work together to untangle story knots or look at areas where a young person may doubt themselves.⁠
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Creative mentoring is a sustainable way of developing a young person’s resilience and great, holistic preparation for the months to come.⁠
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If you’d like to know more, you can book a free, no obligation call with me for a chat. The link is in the bio. Would love to hear from you.⁠

Not one of our young people is finishing the schoo

Not one of our young people is finishing the school term without feeling tired out. Many are also stressed after weeks and weeks of assessments at school. There have been broken bubbles, cancelled sports days and endless disappointments. And there’s still uncertainty about some arrangements for September.⁠
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So, we’re encouraging everyone to think about helping themselves by nurturing their creativity this summer. All our brains are exhausted with the ongoing uncertainty with Covid. We can soothe them with creative activities which we have control over. Gentle creative stimulation engages and focuses our minds on the task at hand -- and distracts us from feelings of stress and anxiety.⁠
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To celebrate #InkpotsSummer our highly creative intern @summer_raselma has been hard at work creating a fresh look for the grid too.⁠
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We’d love to hear which creative activities you find the most soothing and nurturing?⁠

Meet our intern @summer_raselma ⁠ "Hi, I’m Su

Meet our intern @summer_raselma
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"Hi, I’m Summer and I’m the new Inkpots intern!⁠
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I love everything about Inkpots - with the focus on both wellbeing and channelling imagination through storytelling in a safe and comfortable environment instantly drawing me in. I love anything creative, especially putting pen to paper to create both new pieces of writing and drawings – I was majorly into Textiles and Fashion design during school. Now I’m studying English at university I found that I’m also really interested in publishing work as well as social media and digital marketing.⁠
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I hope that I can channel my skillset to help Inkpots in the time that I’m here!"⁠
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We're loving having Summer on the team! Lots of work is going on behind the scenes but we'll be sharing some new posts here very soon.⁠
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Because we have reached the end of another half te

Because we have reached the end of another half term at Inkpots, I have been reviewing how things have gone. We’ve had an influx of new members to our weekly online groups so it’s a good moment to pause. ⁠
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Here are a few things which have are working for these groups at the moment:⁠
*keeping the numbers in each group to between six and ten ensures that everyone gets a chance to share their news and work. We get a number of young people who are introverted so keeping groups small helps avoid overwhelm.⁠
*when we’re doing some writing or drawing, young people appreciate the option to turn cameras off.⁠
*we also use the chat facility so that those who prefer to write down comments can do so.⁠
*we’ve also looked at the length of the sessions and – especially after a day at school or in home learning – between 30 and 45 minutes works well.⁠
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Visits from authors and artists continue to be great for the term-time groups. We’ve been thrilled to welcome cartoonist @venkman_project, @tracydarnton and @aishabushby, and photographer @daria_szotek.⁠
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However, amidst all this positivity there are ripples of anxiety. It’s brilliant that the world is opening up again but concerns about variants and also dealing with more social events are causing worries. Our older members are finding the fairly constant assessments at school particularly challenging. So we’ll continue to support wellbeing through creative writing activities. All the sessions also offer opportunities to talk about concerns too.⁠
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It’s amazing to see our young members adapt and change as the lockdown eases though – many have done a lot of growing up over the past year and it’s always a privilege to witness that process.⁠
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It's half term next week for many of our members.

It's half term next week for many of our members. If it's the same for you, hope it's a good one. Have a good bank holiday weekend too.⁠
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You may not be able to get away just yet to a tree house in the middle of the woods. But we can all go somewhere in our imaginations (which is just as well in my case as I wait for some clarity on being able to travel to the Netherlands to visit one of my sons).⁠
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Have a good rest. Read a book. Have a chat. Eat a bit of cake. Enjoy!

This quote was sent to us by one of our older memb

This quote was sent to us by one of our older members, who is a voracious and knowledgeable reader.⁠
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And as we are approaching the end of what has been - for many - a very long school term, plenty of dreaming is just what's needed.

We had some good news at the weekend. The kind tha

We had some good news at the weekend. The kind that gives you hope.⁠
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A few weeks ago, we launched the Inkwell Project which is a bursary fund to support disadvantaged young people access our services - especially small group and 1:1 sessions. (Experience and our own research has shown these to be particularly beneficial for young people facing challenges.)⁠
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On Saturday, we got confirmation that our local Lions Club wanted to contribute to the fund, so supporting a number of young people.⁠
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We were able to get this sorted quickly and within 24 hours the recipients were all set up with their support.⁠
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We want this project to offer straight forward, swift and targeted support. With minimum fuss.

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