More than 140 Peterborough teachers recently found themselves freed from the constraints of the national curriculum during an imaginative Inset day on creative writing.

The event was the brainchild of Peter Kemp, head of Northborough primary school, which has been awarded beacon status for the development of children’s writing. “Under normal circumstances we’d have engaged just one of the authors to come into a school,” he says. “Today, even the smaller schools will have come into contact with eight or more authors, and the larger schools will have had representatives in every group. This gives a big pool of experience to share, to the benefit of large numbers of children.”

When he was planning the day, Peter Kemp contacted Pearse House, the Hertfordshire-based organisation that runs residential writing courses for children and adults. Danny Doyle, education manager, offered to do more than supply the author contacts; Pearse House organised and staffed the event.

Many of the Peterborough teachers are clearly enjoying the chance to try various writing techniques for themselves. At lunch, two of them, neither with a specialism in literacy, are delighted with a poem they have jointly written. “Fred Sedgwick (one of the authors) gave us idea after idea after idea, and showed us how to develop them,” says Gerry Cash, from Duke of Bedford primary. “The poem we wrote is based on Puck’s speech to Bottom. It’s set on a seashore, about the fear of being followed.” Sarah Gorman, from Peakirk cum Glinton, says Fred Sedgwick made her feel “not only that you could do it, but that you wanted to do it”.

The sharing and using of ideas is central to the scheme. “It’s not just a cosy day out,” says Mr Kemp. “I have to report to the Department for Skills and Education on how the beacon school money has been spent - a condition of beacon school status. I’ll be contacting all the literacy co-ordinators after this, and there will be case studies to show the impact on children’s learning.”

For Samantha Woodliffe, a foundation year teacher from host school Werrington primary, it is “a day to extend our own learning and improve our creativity”. In author Mick Gowar’s session, she experiments with mini-disc recordings and on-the-spot editing.

The teachers’ evaluations of the day are enthusiastic: “I shall take a bank of useful resources and ideas back to class to use.” “I gained the understanding that children do have experiences to draw on, however limited.” “The experience of writing at an adult level is essential to understanding it at a child’s level.” “I found I enjoyed writing. Let’s do it again on a regular basis.”

For Christine Green, of Barnack C of E school, the day has been “rewarding, but tinged with frustration - when I trained, this was what you did. There were no restrictions.”

Claire Reynolds, a Year 5 teacher from Norwood primary, agrees. “There’s not enough time to think about things and try them out in school. That applies to the children, too - we’re always rushing them on to the next subject.”

Peter Kemp recognises the risk of creativity and enjoyment being lost from an ever-tightening curriculum. “We’ve done a lot of work on the technicalities of writing - moderating, checking that we’re getting the levels right, and so on. Today’s different - we’ve been actively involved in the sessions as writers at our own level. We want to go beyond the guidelines and get some of the magic back.”

Linda Newbery was one of 13 authors who took part in the creative writing day with Steve Bowkett, Redvers Brandling, John Cotton, Penny Dolan, Mick Gowar, Dennis Hamley, Wes Magee, David Morgan, John Scotney, Fred Sedgwick, Graeme Sims and Nick Warburton.For Pearse House events, contact Danny Doyle, education manager, or Alison Piano, course administrator, Pearse House: 01279 757400.Email: pearsehouse@route56.co.ukPeterborough schools website: www.sokeschools.com