House of Imagination
St Vigor and St John CofE Primary School, Chilcompton
house of imagination by Pupils of St Vigor and St John CofE Primary School
with David Almond
Contents Foreword David Almond
House of Imagination Penny Hay Director, 5x5x5=creativity
Introduction St Vigor and St John CofE Primary School Pupil Steering Committee
What is Imagination? Pupils of St Vigor and St John CofE Primary School
Project Team
Foreword When I was a boy, I told an uncle that I wanted to be a writer. He folded his arms, tilted his head to one side and pursed his lips. ‘A writer?’ he said. ‘You’ll need to have a good imagination, son.’ Imagination. The word was scary. What did it mean? Was it something that only a few special people had? And me? Did I have this thing? How would I find it? What did it feel like, to have a good imagination? I was wrong to be scared, to be confused. We all have this thing. The imagination is what makes us human. It links the body to the mind and to the brain. It lets us think and dream, wonder and remember. It allows us to talk, to listen, to sing, to dance, to read, to play football, to create stories. It allows us to look inward and to be ourselves, and it lets us leap out of ourselves into the world. It links us to each other, to the universe, to all things that exist. Without it, we are nothing. The imagination is at the heart of everything I write, of course. Throughout the writing process, I use sketchbooks, coloured pencils, pens, highlighters.
Notebook for Counting Stars
Notebook for Colour of the Sun
I scribble and doodle and let images, thoughts, fragments of stories pour onto the page. I draw as well as write, because the imagination for me is a visual thing. And it is a physical thing. I need to use my hands. It can all look formless and messy, but that’s how it should be. Imperfection is at the heart of all creativity. Playfulness must inform the hard work and the daily routines that are necessary to write thousands of words and hundreds of pages. I write like I did in primary school, mingling words and images, just like the children at St Vigor and St John. The children who have made this book are voyagers, explorers, discoverers, philosophers, and artists. Their speculations about the nature of the imagination – which are of course speculations about the nature of humanity itself – are surprising, illuminating and profound. This book contains extracts from the wide range of writing and artwork they have created over a few months. It’s been a joy and a privilege to work with them in their wonderful school, to be reminded yet again that the creativity of children and young people is the energy that burns at heart of our culture. They are in the process of growing up, of creating themselves and a better world. David Almond
Notebook for The Tightrope Walkers
House of imagination House of Imagination is a digital book created with St Vigor and St John CofE Primary School, Chilcompton, Somerset working with Chief Writing Ambassador David Almond, 5x5x5=creativity and Future Publishers, Bath Spa University. The project was supported by Paper Nations, a strategic hub for young writers, funded by Arts Council England. David Almond worked with children across the school to create text and images for the book. Together, David and the children explored approaches to creative writing and drawing around theme of ‘imagination’. Children developed story ideas in their sketchbooks and were shown strategies for exploring, developing and refining their ideas as creative writers. Supported by 5x5x5=creativity mentors and the staff team, the children designed postcards, responding to the question ‘What is Imagination?’, developing the use of drawing to express their ideas. School Council representatives from each year group visited the publishing experts at Bath Spa University to explore ways in which their ideas could be published. Here, the children started to develop an awareness of editorial work in transforming a range of material for publication. The children were able to develop an understanding of the ways in which ideas that start in their imagination can lead to rich and creative forms of writing, which can be celebrated and communicated to others through publication. Penny Hay Director, 5x5x5=creativity
Introduction: a book of imagination What is Imagination? That’s a tough question. We wanted to make a book about imagination because no one has really found an answer to this question … it is a challenge! It doesn’t matter if our thoughts are right or wrong – it’s what we think. We met David Almond at our school, St Vigor and St John, and he helped us to think about what imagination is. David talked to the whole school about what gives him ideas about what to write and how he uses his imagination. We all made a postcard with a picture and an idea on it to describe what imagination is. Everybody’s ideas were different. It made us think in different ways – thinking that we would use at other times in all our learning. N.B. This is not an introduction – nothing is what it seems! St Vigor and St John CofE Primary School Pupil Steering Committee
What is Imagination? Pupils of St Vigor and St John CofE Primary School
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t n is a ss of energy.
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n is the key ng. nothing d!
The world
Imaginatio world of dr
is a puzzle.
on is a reams.
Wha Imagin
at is nation?
Imagination is lik
The more you ad better it become
It can crumble so long as you feed nothing can stop
ke a jigsaw.
dd to it the es.
ometimes, but as d it with ideas p it.
Imagina like flow never fa
ation is wers that ade.
Project team David Almond, Author and Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University
5x5x5=creativity is an arts based charity that aims to improve children’s life chances by helping them to explore and express their ideas and develop creative skills for life. Director: Penny Hay Researcher: Katherine Evans
Future Publishers offers creative editorial and design publishing workshops and information for children and young people, run by professional practitioners and publishing students at Bath Spa University. Early exposure to the possibilities of a career working as a publisher with words, images, print and digital production can be transformative for individuals and encourages greater diversity in the publishing industry. Director: Katharine Reeve Designer: Gemma Matthews
St Vigor and St John CofE Primary School, Chilcompton, Somerset Headteacher: David Allinson
Paper Nations, a new creative writing hub for young people in the United Kingdom, has funded this project. It is led by Bath Spa University in partnership with Bath Festivals and the National Association of Writers in Education. Funded by Arts Council England’s Strategic Fund for Creative Writing in Schools, this ambitious project aims to embed high-quality creative writing in schools across the nation. Director: Bambo Soyinka
Imagination is like a jigsaw. The more you add to it the better it becomes. It can crumble sometimes, but as long as you feed it with ideas nothing can stop it.
Future
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