Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

Alex Applegate, a Year 11 student at The Bulwell Academy, Nottingham, was selected to interview the best-selling YA author Dean Atta on stage at this year’s First Story Young Writers Festival at the University of Cambridge. The annual event is England's biggest festival for young writers, with previous headliners including Malorie Blackman, Philip Pullman and Jackie Kay.

The Bulwell Academy has had an extremely challenging time after Osted placed it in Special measures. Recently appointed Executive Principal, Chris Keen, hailed the school as entering a ‘new phase’ with an improved rating. The school takes part in First Story's Young Writers Programme, where students learn to develop their own voice and increase their confidence and creativity. Enrichment programmes like First Story’s help schools deliver a broader curriculum and raise aspirations.

Students in Nottingham do not often get these opportunities. Nottingham City Council is the fifth most deprived local authority in the UK, with 40% of children under 16 in families with low income in 2022/23 according to data from the Department for Work and Pensions. Schools are still confronting the aftermath of the pandemic including dramatic drops in attendance and a rising mental health crisis.

The trip to Cambridge gave The Bulwell Academy an opportunity more often available to schools from more privileged regions.

Alex Applegate (left) interviews leading YA author Dean Atta at University of Cambridge festival

Chris Keen, Executive Principal of The Bulwell Academy, says:

“We are extremely proud of our involvement in this excellent project. Every week, pupils are engaging with, learning from, and working collaboratively with a professional writer. Their development of a love of reading and writing is powerful, especially when they see their book being published professionally at the end of the year. I’m also delighted for Alex and his opportunity not only to interview a published author, but to visit such a prestigious university.”

Joel Hunt, School Librarian at The Bulwell Academy, adds:

“I think the visits that First Story organises are essential, because they expand horizons in ways that I don't think a lot of our students expect.”

Alex Applegate (Year 11, The Bulwell Academy) at the First Story Young Writers Fesitval

A major new study, recently published by the University of Exeter, recommended schools include “an enrichment guarantee” so that all children beneﬁt from wider activities outside the classroom that nurture socio-emotional skills. The Exeter study added that enrichment activities “can improve children’s relationships with others inside and outside school.”

Paula Rawsthorne, the First Story Writer-in-Residence at The Bulwell Academy, observed that one student’s reading age had improved dramatically as a result of being part of the First Story Young Writers Programme:

“His reading age had rocketed, and [The Head of Literacy] directly attributed that to his participation in First Story. This student’s writing has come on so much. When he first came, he said, “oh I can't stand poetry,” you should see his poetry now; it's incredible.”

Alex said he was thrilled to meet and speak with Dean Atta and noted the whole programme motivated him to be more creative. Taking his GCSEs this summer, Alex is looking ahead to his future career and after a stint as a First Story Young Ambassador, helping younger students to write creatively, would now like to be an English teacher.

For further information please contact Annette Brook: [email protected]

Bulwell Academy student chosen to interview leading author at University of Cambridge festival