The Ministry of Stories opens for children who want to write

A writing space called Ministry of Stories, which was opened on Friday by author Nick Hornby, relies on a small army of volunteer writers, teachers and artists. Jubilee primary school is the first to visit this place and the children are told that 30 stories are needed before lunchtime. The Ministry of Stories is finally open for business in London and they are trying to expand it beyond London but they need to find funds to do that. In the UK there is room for improvement with writing in schools. Girls are doing better than boys, more than a quarter of girls gained level 5, this target was reached by only fifteen percent of boys. With this new place that the volunteers build up and painted it in their free time, they are trying to inspire and encourage young people to write stories and hoping that there is a valuable chance to pass this on to the next generation. The children of the Jubilee primary school are making up a story by telling who the main character is and then they are writing a beginning, a middle, and an end. At the end of the day the children get a book with the story in it and each cover is also printed with a different child’s name.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/nov/22/ministry-of-stories-literacy-writing

My reaction:
I hope that this project will last long and spreads out over whole the UK. The Ministry of Stories is a good way to learn children how to tell a story and to develop their imagination of free writing. It takes a lot of work to get enough volunteers taking part of this project but in the end I think that their work will not be for nothing. Children imagine things and making their own stories that are way different from an adult and I think that is way it should be stimulated in their younger years.