Wild for Words

Wild for Words is a mix­ture of cre­ative learn­ing, gen­tle coach­ing and imag­i­na­tive play com­bined to allow chil­dren to unwind, open their minds and start to believe in them­selves. Wild for Words is more fun than learn­ing at home and more socia­ble than one to one coaching.

ENG­LISH WITH A DIFFERENCE! 

For 8 – 11 year olds

Wild for Words stretch­es and inspires eager read­ers and writ­ers, and encour­ages the would-be read­ers and writ­ers who lack con­fi­dence, and rekin­dles the spark for the wob­bly, wor­ried work­ers. We want to help every child enjoy read­ing and to approach writ­ing with ener­gy, pas­sion and with­out anx­i­ety. Wild for Words sup­ports chil­dren in small groups, build­ing their rela­tion­ship with words through imag­i­na­tive activ­i­ty so that, as mas­tery and con­fi­dence increase, they read with their feel­ings and write with their souls.

EMPOW­ER­ING CHIL­DREN

Remem­ber shar­ing a book on a blan­ket under a tree or mak­ing up end­less fam­i­ly poems, in rhyming cou­plets, on long car jour­neys? Read­ing aloud in the evenings or singing nurs­ery rhymes?

Wild for Words empow­ers chil­dren to explore the Eng­lish lan­guage in many forms and to exper­i­ment with dif­fer­ent styles of writ­ing, safe in a leafy wilder­ness in the heart of Oxford­shire.​

Wild for Words focus­es on the aspects of Eng­lish teach­ing that good pri­ma­ry teach­ers and par­ents believe in, but some­times don’t have enough time for.​Modern fam­i­ly life and high expec­ta­tions in pri­ma­ry schools enable chil­dren to achieve but with assess­ments, entrance exams and tar­gets dri­ving enjoy­ment and imag­i­na­tion to the back of our minds. This can leave many chil­dren gasp­ing for air in a hos­tile world of sub­or­di­nate claus­es and spelling tests. How can a child enjoy learn­ing the mechan­ics of a sub­ject if the cre­ative flame has died?

Imag­ine being asked to paint a pic­ture which showed mas­tery of per­spec­tive when you have noth­ing in front of you to paint? Before the skills can be pol­ished, we need a con­stant and reli­able ground spring of imag­i­na­tive ideas bub­bling forth.

Chil­dren are expect­ed to learn Eng­lish skills every day in school and yet, despite the best teach­ers and their best efforts, there is rarely ade­quate time for imag­i­na­tive explo­ration.

Wild for Words restores the eager­ness to com­mu­ni­cate and cel­e­brate words that most chil­dren are born with. Work­ing and play­ing togeth­er in our own sprawl­ing gar­den by a stream, we set their imag­i­na­tions free.

As well as read­ing and writ­ing, chil­dren share in poet­ry, songs, rid­dles and rhymes, cir­cle games, singing, dra­ma and much more.

The writ­ing is their writ­ing. It will be shared, enjoyed, edit­ed and praised but there will be no scores, tests or marks. Fin­er points of gram­mar, punc­tu­a­tion and spelling will be taught as they arise and when they are need­ed and use­ful. Focused work on par­tic­u­lar stum­bling blocks are tack­led on a one to one basis by arrange­ment if required.