Do secondary schools still teach creative writing?

[lalalonglegs]

I ask as I went to an open evening last night and got into conversation with one of the English teachers who was showing me the set texts that are taught from Y7 upwards (my daughter is Y6 and we are currently trying to choose a secondary school for her). I asked what creative/imaginative writing the children did as well and the teacher said that, sadly, as this is no longer part of GCSE it is no longer taught - it is just not a priority.

Is this really the case ? Or is this just the way things are done at that school? It was the last school in the area to hold an open day so I can't ask at any of the others - does anyone else know if this is the way things are done?

Yes, we do.

It depends on the GCSE, and is also part of some A level specs too.

They do it at Dh's school. I have no idea if it forms part of the gcse syllabus.

That's interesting. I must admit, I found the school a bit Gradgrindian - do you think if I phoned up other likely schools and asked specifically about this, I'd be able to get an answer? My daughter has always loved story-telling/poetry writing - I think it would be a shame for ANY child not to do it any more because it's not part of some chuffing exam syllabus.

DS is taking AS level creative writing this year. Im not aware of it existing as a GCSE but he certainly had to write some extended pieces for gcse English Language.

There are currently two creative pieces as controlled assessment in GCSE. The a level spec I teach has an original writing component too, where students can write in a variety of genres of their choice.

All the specs are changing next year but I believe this will still be assessed.

My ds has a piece of a English homework a week- they have a theme but each week they have to write in a different style. This term the theme is World War 1. So far they've had to write a monologue from the standpoint of a soldier in the trenches, a newspaper article about a battle, a letter home persuading a younger brother to join up/not join up, an account of being in a gas attack, and this week a formal essay "War is futile-discuss". So yes, creative writing is there.

Those homework tasks sound fab, Hak.

Oh and ds does loads of creative writing in English; it was a good 50% of yr 7, I reckon. And lots more in drama, RS and history.

I know more Gradgrindian schools exist, though.

Yeah- I think they've cracked English homework. I like the way they are specifically asked to approach the same topic from different angles and in different styles. Tricky for ds because he is very good at the dramatic and breathless - less good at the measured and thoughtful.

Science homework on the other hand.......

My DD's English lessons and homework have been similar to Hakluyt's DS. Their theme recently has been Sherlock Holmes, the latest task has been to create a character who approaches Sherlock with either a threat or a problem. Using that character they are now writing a script for a Sherlock Holmes story.

This is really encouraging - I'm so glad that this sort of writing hasn't been dropped. I found out that our favourite (but probably impossible to get into) school does masses of creative writing, even teaches it as a separate A level. I'm going to find out what our most likely school does too. Thanks for all your replies.