There will be four day schools - Finding a Voice; Finding the Language; Finding the Form; Finding the Audience.
Each of these will concentrate on the specified element of composition in a workshop situation using a variety of methods: the discussion of literary models - how other poets have found and used their own distinctive voice; exercises - experiments with different voices for the same context or distancing self from personal experience and vice versa; writing to order within given constraints. The whole day to be continuously informed by full discussion of their own and others' work; developing both self-awareness and critical judgement. Although each session will provide ample opportunity for students to read their own poetry, the final session (Finding the Audience) will be treated as a 'performance' which will be planned by the students themselves through collaborative negotiation, in which the exercise will be delivered more formally within an element of assessment. If appropriate, other students will be invited to attend.
In addition to the four main day schools, there will be additional day/half-day schools which will service both the main day schools and students' individual writing needs; for example, there will be an opportunity for students to discuss their work in progress, for some formal tuition in the public delivery of the spoken word, for them to write up their workbook or to prepare drafts and final submissions. These sessions will be considered very much as the "learning by doing" element of the course.