Igniting Writing: Why it Matters in 2025

In July 2023, the National Literacy Trust published a report entitled, Children and Young People’s Writing in 2023. The report summarises the findings from their 2023 Annual Literacy Survey, which was completed by 71,351 children and young people aged 5-18 in schools across the UK. A more in-depth report into the findings can be found here.

Within this report, they concluded:

• 1 in 3 children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoy writing in their free time, which is a 26% decrease compared to 2010 and one of the lowest levels of writing enjoyment.
• 1 in 5 children and young people stated that they wrote something daily in their free time, which is a 28.5% decrease compared to 2010.

These results are startling and devastating. Writing for pleasure has so many benefits and it is what we wholeheartedly believe in.

Why writing matters?

Academic attainment

It is unsurprising to hear that those children who write for pleasure are more likely to have higher literacy grades. Research by the National Literacy Trust found that those who enjoyed writing were 7 times more likely to write above the expected level for their age compared to those who did not enjoy writing.

These studies sadly reflect the Key Stage 2 attainment levels. In the latest assessment results published in July 2023, 71% of pupils met the expected standard at the end of Key Stage 2, a lower figure than reading and maths, and far lower than pre-covid levels.

Self-Expression and Confidence

Writing for pleasure undoubtedly promotes self-expression and confidence. These are crucial for the development of young people and for nurturing their individuality. Through writing for pleasure, young people can learn to communicate effectively, improving their people skills and gaining confidence as individuals.

Mental Health

According to the 2023 National Literacy Trust report, 1 in 4 children and young people stated that writing made them feel better. We believe that writing allows young people to express and explore emotions in a reflective way. It can also enable young people to process emotions that may be difficult to express verbally.

Creativity and Imagination

Last but certainly not least, writing for pleasure is fun! Learning to write, particularly through storytelling, allows young people to express themselves freely. Your imagination can run wild and, through storytelling, you can escape normality and transport yourself to new worlds, encountering new characters and scenarios. Completing a piece of creative writing can be incredibly satisfying, giving an enormous sense of accomplishment to young learners.

1 in 2 children and young people stated that they write to be creative, whilst 2 in 5 children stated that they write to express their ideas and imagination (40.5%) or thoughts and feelings (45.5%). (National Literacy Trust)

Needless to say, we are not huge fans of the current SATs assessments. There is too much focus on grammar (why do children need to learn how to identify a determiner or a relative pronoun?) and not enough emphasis is placed on writing for pleasure and creative writing.

Twinkl also agree with us on the benefits of storytelling. Have a read of our contribution to their article, The Power of Storytelling in KS2.

What can we do to ignite writing?

We believe that more than ever before, finding ways to excite children with writing should be at the forefront of the minds of parents and teachers across the UK. We want to change children’s attitudes so that they feel motivated and inspired to write.

This can be achieved through providing children with greater opportunities to write for pleasure, outside of the classroom, if necessary. A quote from the National Literacy Trust stated:

“Providing children and young people with the opportunities to get inspired to write, either at school or in the community, can positively influence their enjoyment and frequency of writing in their free time. For example, more children and young people who had been to creative-writing groups or who had taken part in writing competitions said that they enjoyed writing and were writing daily in their free time compared with those who didn’t take part.”

Creative Writing Clubs for Schools

At Bright Light Education, we offer creative writing clubs to schools at affordable prices. As teachers ourselves, we know how limited time there is to plan an after-school club. Our creative writing clubs are created for in-house teachers to deliver, with high quality PowerPoints and supporting resources. No planning is required! Each club is 10 lessons long and each lesson is designed to take 1 hour. They are ideal clubs to run throughout a school term. Schools have the flexibility to choose when to run the club, how many children will participate and how much they will charge parents.

We also sell our Creative Writing Skills book at a discounted rate in bulk, to schools.

Creative Writing Courses for Parents

Our online creative writing courses have been running successfully since 2019 to children in the UK and around the world. We offer a range of courses from Year 2 through to Year 6.

“I wanted to let you know how thrilled I am at the progress my son is making with his writing doing your course. This week he had to complete a piece of writing for school and sat down to it without any meltdown, no fuss and wrote a great piece using all the skills you have taught and was very excited with the result – reading me out various descriptive sentences.” (Parent)

Free Creative Writing Courses to children on Free School Meals

In recognising the direct link between family income and educational achievement, we are proud to offer a number of creative writing courses for free to children who are eligible for free school meals.

Creative Writing Competition

Our Creative Writing Competition for 7-13 year olds opens on February 1st each year. It is a wonderful opportunity for individuals and schools to get involved. All entries receive a bronze, silver or gold certificate, bringing much needed confidence to our enthusiastic young writers.

Together, let’s join the movement to ignite children’s writing.