Fiction is often the poor relation to non-fiction, and can sometimes take a back seat in our teaching as the ability to formulate a story is not always perceived to be an everyday skill, and everything suggests that teaching time might be better spent teaching children to analyse and evaluate what they consume.

However, the creative power to express our own experience is central to success in the fast-paced world to which our young people belong. With the prevalence of STEM, it can be easy to neglect the importance of learning how to nurture ideas, and how to develop approaches to solve problems. We do not want a generation who can code whatever someone tells them to, but are unable to generate their own solutions – the creative spark is just as important as the technical ability to follow it through.

Here is a short animation designed to give pupils confidence in the value of learning to write creatively.