Matt Beighton

Awards

• Readers' Favourite 5 Star Award

Organisations

• The Alliance of Independent Authors
• The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

Event feedback

Details

As an experienced teacher, Matt is adept at running inspiring creative writing sessions that engage students.

Creative writing sessions with Matt Beighton can be tailored to work with children from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4 and from smaller groups to full classes. Intervention groups can be a good use of pupil premium funding and can be a great way to re-engage reluctant or struggling writers. 

Session lengths will vary depending on the age of the children, with 45-60 minutes being the preferred length for full class sessions. Please note that sessions shorter than this are unlikely to be as effective for full classes but can be used effectively for smaller groups of 10 or fewer children.

A normal day will consist of four or five sessions and a break for lunch though he is happy to discuss alternative timetable arrangements. Each session will require a projector or screen, computer (a laptop can be provided if requested in advance) and pencils and paper for the children.

Sessions will always include Matt talking about his career as a writer and the exciting writing opportunities out there that children may never have considered.

Visits Abroad

Matt is willing to travel abroad to work with international schools.

Visit Costs

For bookings, please contact my bookings manager Yvonne Lang at yvonne@caboodlebooks.co.uk. Full-day bookings cost £475+VAT which includes any and all travel costs within mainland Britain. 

Staff CPD costs are available on request.

Sessions

As an experienced teacher of nearly a decade, his sessions are engaging and well-structured with clear outcomes that can be tailored to your specific needs. Creative writing sessions provide a great opportunity for reluctant or struggling writers to realise that they can create amazing ideas independently. Feedback from these visits is always positive with teachers reporting that their children have taken their story ideas home and written them as full pieces of work. As a use of pupil premium funding, one of Matt's smaller group sessions would be the perfect way to re-engage disaffected or disadvantaged learners and increase confidence and self-belief. 

Going from “can’t get started” to “can’t wait to start”.

One of Matt's most popular workshops. This session takes children through the process of using story structures and ideas that they know to create new and interesting ideas for narrative fiction. There is no prior learning or knowledge needed and only note-taking equipment is required for the session.

Building a character.

Matt looks at the people that we know and discusses how characters in stories are built up in layers – by what they say and do, how they act in certain situations and how this information is presented to the reader. By exploring this and creating their own characters during the workshop, children will from skills that they can use in their writing long after the session has ended.

Fightin' Writin' Workshops

Matt's newest workshop and an instant hit, you can explore the Fightin' Writin' idea in full at https://www.fightinwritin.co.uk. In short, it is a practical workshop that uses miniature battles to enhance the use of vocabulary and narrative style. It removes the physical barrier of writing and encourages children to talk through their narratives, roleplay and build up a dual-narrative story. Recommended for Year 4+.

Branching Narratives

Branching narratives, or choose-your-own-path stories, are great for exploring story structure and the impact of author decisions. This workshop breaks down a simple story such as Little Red Riding Hood, and explores how it could be different if the author changes what happens in small ways. The children use this to create their own branching narrative, either independently or in small groups. Not only does this explore story structure in a new and innovative way, but it also highlights how they always have a choice ahead of them when writing and is a great way to show them that getting stuck when writing is sometimes because they just have to make a choice about what to happen next. There are some excellent ways that this workshop can tie into whole-school engagement, please get in touch with Matt to find out more about this. 

Any of these sessions can be fully adapted to tie in with your curriculum, from Aztecs to the space race. There's no need to fight the crowds for a visit around World Book Day to ignite a life-long love of reading and writing!

Alongside all of this, Matt offers CPD sessions for teachers (discounts are available if booked at the same time as a children's session) based on his new book, Write It Level It Teach It. This is available to buy now and offers tips and advice on how to create better and more effective content for your class while saving time. 

Testimonials

“An excellent day was had by all! Motivational in promoting a love for reading and that all have the potential to be writers. Thank you!” – Countesthorpe Leyland Community College

“The children thoroughly enjoyed the sessions which were fun, creative and engaging. The assemblies were a great way to raise the profile of reading and boost reading enjoyment. An excellent day which was very fun and enjoyable. The pupils really enjoyed the workshops as they were a really creative way for them to write their own stories and work as a team.” – Martingshaw Primary School

“Matt did some extra work with the year 5s by supporting them to create their own stories. The children engaged with Matt and came up with some great ideas based on his books. Matt was wonderful with the children and supported them well. He was very entertaining and the children were very excited about writing and couldn’t wait to write more! I would not hesitate to have Matt back to discuss his new books with the children.” – Stokes Wood Primary School

Book Reviews

"This was a really fun read and I can imagine it being a story that is loved and read over and over - it certainly has some brilliant quirky characters!" - Donna's Book Blog

"I wish more books like this had been around when I was a child, it would have made reading even better and more imaginative. A character like Trixie would have been a great read as a child and was also a very cute and loving character to read as an adult." - Belle and the Novel

"From a parents point of view I liked that the book showed that we can all be different but all feel the same when we are left out, made fun of or are bullied." - Orchard Book Club's Mini Reviewers

"[My daughter] read it through in one evening and there was complete joy and laughter that could be heard through the ceiling to my office below. She loved the story." - Girl Who Sciences

"What a brilliant, funny children’s story this turned out to be! ... I have no hesitation in highly recommending it as a fun read for children and the young at heart, too, and teachers should definitely check it out!" - Splashes Into Books

"I read this book to my six year old son and he was enamoured with it right from the very first page. I sometimes struggle to get him to engage with a story, especially a longer book like this, but he was absolutely gripped and begged me to read more every night!" - Amazon Review

Books by Matt Beighton

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