…is really straightforward. The answer to most questions is: “It is up to you.” It will depend on your circumstances and your preferences. You can do it alone, but it is good to share the load with someone else. Above all, a writing club should be a free space, where children may find what they want to write and discover their writing selves.
When?
After school or during the lunch hour. Timings depend on school traditions, whether children are local or rely on buses, when other clubs meet.
An hour is a good amount of time, but the shorter time in the middle of the day works well too.
Where?
A quiet space, inside or out.
What?
You really only need pen and paper. We have built up a collection of resources and we’ll share what we have in our writing box in future blogs.
Who?
We opened the club to anyone in the school and at first it was most popular with the very youngest children. They draw and write alongside older children who lend a hand when needed. Now we have children from reception to Year 6 and it works well in our small school. We put a limit of fifteen children which is a quarter of the school and it is always over-subscribed. Some teachers we know prefer to keep to one age group. That’s fine, too.
Writing Box 
Writing club membership? If one wants to keep a session open to about 15 children, then is it always the same 15 or is rotating children possible, even desirable? When the younger children pair with the older ones are these groupings set from session to session or do they naturally evolve and change in your experience? If in this case all 60 children want to participate how do you manage the disappointment of those left out? Or can you in fact have two or more groups going at once? How much time do you typically take in preparing “activities” for a given club meeting? What do I say to my administrator who thinks this is not possible in my school?
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How much time do you typically spend preparing “activities” for a club meeting?
When younger children are paired with older ones, do these become stable buddies or is their rotation from session to session?
Can you run more than one writing club at the same time so no children are left out?
What should I say to my head teacher who is not interested in promoting writing in our school because she believes this takes time away from the language tasks on the assessments?
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