IMPACT REPORT

2019/20 What I personally wish “this century to see [is] a balance of stories where every people will be able to contribute to a definition of themselves, where we are not victims of other people's accounts.

– CHINUA ACHEBE FOREWARD This has been a year cut in two: before and after the pandemic. In the first half of the year, First Story was working in 52 schools, over four regions, delivering our Young Writers Programme. In December 2019, 330 students and 18 professional writers travelled to Cambridge University for our Young Writers' Festival and, in March 2020, schools across London gathered at Greenwich University to write together. Our live events are the summit of the First Story experience; anyone at them sees instantly how excited students are to write and how developing their own voice has brought new confidence. When schools closed on 20 March 2020, most First Story programmes in schools were drawing to a natural close; students had shared ideas for producing the anthology and selected their best work.

Then began the second half of the year. Like everyone else, First Story had to adapt quickly to a challenging new world. Writers, students and teachers collaborated online to finish anthologies. Together with our partners, we took National Writing Day entirely online. Over 100,000 young people used our resources and took part in our #247Challenge. Writing together was a way of making a community when everyone was isolated in lockdown. Our virtual residential week brought students together from across the country for a week of intensive writing. You will read their enthusiasm in this report.

Many of the communities we work with have been severely affected by the pandemic. Limited access to online learning, health issues, and school closures have widened the attainment gap—now an estimated 36 per cent. In this context, we know our Young Writers Programme has much to offer. Recovery from the effects of the pandemic will not be a quick fix. First Story builds the resilience and skills essential to increase life chances for disadvantaged young people. We will continue to work in partner schools in 2020/21, navigating with them our way through a very tough environment.

Huge thanks to everyone who makes this happen: first and foremost our writers and teachers, who work with energy, expertise and dexterity; our funders, without whom none of this would be possible; and our small and committed team, who give so much of themselves.

2019/20 has highlighted the value of our work for young people; we are looking forward to making an even greater impact next year.

Antonia Byatt Chief Executive

2 WHAT WE DO

We’re ’s leading creative writing charity for young people.

Our flagship Young Writers Programme pairs professional authors with state secondary schools serving low income communities, where they work intensively with students and teachers to develop creativity, confidence, and ability.

Our extracurricular enrichment provision — which includes writing workshops, events, competitions, and published anthologies — empowers young people to discover and develop their own unique voices and, in doing so, thrive in education and beyond.

First Story is committed to practically addressing educational inequalities and the opportunity gap faced by young people from less advantaged backgrounds.

We work exclusively in communities with high levels of socioeconomic inequality, where we are providing a critical link between local schools, arts organisations, higher education institutions, and the commercial sector. IMPACT OF COVID-19

In March 2020, schools in England closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing of the first lockdown only minimally disrupted delivery of our 2019/20 programmes. By spring term, our participants are usually turning their attention to editing their own best pieces of writing, for inclusion in their group's published anthology. Most of our Writers-in-Residence were able to continue producing manuscripts by communicating with students and teachers over email.

However, our 2019/20 anthology production process was impacted somewhat, with printing delayed for several of the year's new publications. Inevitably, the majority of schools were unable, not least due to social distancing restrictions, to hold celebratory book launch events as usual in the summer term. Additionally, three of First Story’s local 'Connect' events, plus live activities scheduled for June’s National Writing Day, and the summer’s Arvon residential week, all had to be cancelled.

ADAPTING TO DIGITAL

We were quick to adapt our provision and offer digital alternatives wherever viable. The 2019/20 summer residential became a (hugely successful!) virtual week, delivered via the Zoom platform. All National Writing Day activities also moved online. We consulted extensively with partner schools in the first months of lockdown, with invaluable teachers' feedback shaping the development of our blended learning offer.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

Many trusts and foundations changed their grant-making criteria in response to the pandemic, which meant we lost out on some expected voluntary income in 2019/20. We were also forced to cancel a planned fundraising event in March. Some of First Story's core staff were briefly furloughed through the Job Retention Scheme, helping to mitigate the impact of lost funds. Thankfully, at a time of unprecedented crisis for the arts sector, we were able to continue supporting our community of professional writers by providing a vital source of income.

EVALUATION DATA

First Story’s Theory of Change sees participants in our intensive Young Writers Programme progress along three primary outcome pathways: increased confidence, enhanced creativity, and improved writing ability. Start- and end-point surveys, carried out in schools, are usually how we assess young people’s progress in these areas. However, as the lockdown closed schools from March to the end of the academic year, we were unable to carry out our evaluation as normal. Although we moved evaluation online, regrettably too few surveys were completed to provide meaningful impact data for this exceptional year.

4 4 2019/20 E

AT A GLANCE R I H S T

We continued to provide K

residencies in four regions S R

across England, where we E worked intensively in O W Y

52PARTNER 1,044 SCHOOLS YOUNG PEOPLE took part in our flagship YOUNG WRITERS E PROGRAMME R I H S K T R S O A E Y 6MORE Y0OUNG P0EOPLE BENEFITED FROM PARTICIPATION IN WHOLE SCHOOL ACTIVITIES SUCH AS ASSEMBLIES, EVENTS, ANTHOLOGY LAUNCHES & COMPETITIONS WE ORGANISED SKILLS SHARING 78 DAYS 5 FOR OUR TEACHERS RECEIVED FREE TEACHERS CPD & WRITERS TRAINING TOOK PART LONDON IN OUR 16 FIRST STUDENTS EVER VIRTUAL RESIDENTIAL WE PUBLISHED OVER 46 WRITERS ALUMNI DELIVERED MORE THAN WERE AWARDED 3,000 RATHBONES STORIES & POEMS IN 1,200 (with more FOLIO titles to be 5PRIZE HOURS published MENTORSHIPS in autumn OF WORKSHOPS 42term 20/21) ANTHOLOGIES

327 EAST YOUNG PEOPLE ATTENDED OUR MIDLANDS YOUNG WRITERS' FESTIVAL

6 ANTHOLOGIES

At the heart of our Young Writers Programme, a consistent group of students work together over an academic year, guided and supported by their Writer-in- Residence, to create a published anthology. Our young writers are empowered throughout the production process, from selecting and editing their own best pieces for inclusion, to choosing the anthology's title and contributing to its cover design. First Story's anthologies are produced to a high professional standard; each has an ISBN, with a copy sent to the British Library. We published 42 new titles during 2019/20. Although some anthologies had to be delayed due to the pandemic, we expect all 2019/20 First Story groups to see their work in print by early in 2021.

LAUNCH EVENTS

As traditional book launch events became difficult to stage in this exceptional year, some of our partner schools came up with alternative ways to celebrate their students' achievement as newly published authors. In London, Chelsea launched its anthology as part of an assembly. Haven High in Boston held a live Facebook event. Addey and Stanhope school in London and in both drew on expertise from other departments in their schools, recording and editing launch films, which they shared on social media for parents and students to enjoy. Cranford Community College and Saint Gabriel's College, both in London, went ahead with in-person events, albeit strictly following social distancing rules.

7 xx COMPETITIONS

Some 240 young people entered our two national short-form creative writing competitions during 2019/20 — Six Word Story in the autumn term and 100 Word Story in the spring.

Our Six Word Story winner was selected and announced by the celebrated YA author, Juno Dawson, at December's Young Writers' Festival, where Juno said of the winning entry — by Samuel Byrne from in — “Sometimes, simple can be very effective. Samuel’s entry was smart and stylish, but also coldly brutal, Man steals drugs, drugs steal man. which felt appropriate given the subject matter.”

We piloted a new way to showcase the Salena Godden, Joe Dunthorne, Bridget work of our 12 Six Word Story finalists Minamore, Tracy Chevalier, Caroline this year. Each of the 12 shortlisted Bird, Damian Barr, Katie Thistleton and stories was performed by a well-known Priya O’Shea. writer, as a video 'selfie', published on Twitter and Instagram. Our 12 readers It was another strong year for our 100 were: Juno Dawson, Nikesh Shukla, Max Word Story competition too. This Porter, Tom Holland, year's overall winner, Daisy Benn, from in Beverley, was announced in March 2020 — selected as usual by a judging panel of editors at our competition partners, Vintage.

‘Boy’ is rich in imagery and is crazily inventive. The three-part structure documents a “transformation that at first glance reads almost like a fairy tale. It bears analysis and multiple interpretations, and there is something new to discover with every reading. We loved it for its confidence to take on a complex subject with unique style and buckets of imagination.

— VINTAGE JUDGES

10 YOUNG WRITERS' FESTIVAL

First Story’s Young Writers’ Festival 2019 saw some 330 students and 30 teachers from across England, join 18 professional writers at the for a day in celebration of young people’s voices, assisted by 20 volunteers from supportive organisations including Man Group.

A host of high calibre writers led workshops or spoke on stage, including our 2019 headliner, best-selling YA author Juno Dawson. We also invited two recent alumni, Jessica Willmott and Blessed Olowolagba, to share their experiences of taking part in the Young Writers Programme. Publishers Vintage, Penguin Random House, and Hachette between them donated over 300 books to our festival pop-up shop, which young people could buy for just £1 each. (We had almost sold out by lunchtime!) This year's feedback from students and teachers told us that attendees most valued meeting new writers, spending time writing, and the chance to visit Cambridge University.

The highlight was the chance to visit the University of Cambridge “and see just how far writing can take an individual. The group really embraced the opportunity to write with acclaimed authors [...] alongside many other First Story schools. I truly can’t thank you enough for the change made in our students’ lives.

– SAM MOORE, TEACHER OF ENGLISH AT THE WINSTANLEY SCHOOL, LEICESTER

10 One of the biggest impacts of running a First Story programme at our school, which none of us could have predicted, was the positive impact “that it had on student confidence and wellbeing. Our wonderful resident writer, Bridget Minamore, began every session by asking students how they were on a scale of 1-10 that day and, to our amazement, these numbers got steadily higher over the course, until in our final sessions students reported feelings as high as 11. The First Story group quickly became a supportive community where our students truly felt heard, perhaps for the first time in their school careers. I noticed quiet students who became increasingly confident in sharing their opinions and other students who became more open to discussing their personal thoughts and feelings. All of this was achieved without any undue pressure ever being placed on the students themselves. For instance, no student was ever forced to read their work aloud and this expectation was made clear from the get-go. Instead, such a warm and welcoming environment was created that eventually, every student felt so safe and supported that they wanted to read their work.

– KATE ROWE, ENGLISH TEACHER AT HAMPSTEAD SCHOOL, LONDON First Story dignified our students’ voices. They soon began to believe that despite often troubled relationships with education, their “stories mattered. They mattered. Reading their efforts aloud began to fill up chasms of low confidence and negative self-belief, with worthiness and pride... Students began to realise that their work didn’t have to be perfect. It just had to be their own, each word symbolising a record of achievement and a step closer to academic success.

– LISA THOMPSON-GWEDE, SUBJECT LEADER OF ENGLISH AT SPRINGWELL LEEDS EAST ACADEMY

When I became one of the lead teachers for the First Story programme, I was expecting students to improve their writing techniques and develop “their passion through working with a local writer. What I was not expecting was to see this group of seventeen students grow into fully-fledged writers, finding their own voices in such a defined and authentic way.

– LAURA CHAMBERLAIN, LEAD TEACHER AT , HULL

12 National Writing Day (NWD) is our For the day itself, we came up with a fun annual nationwide celebration of the and accessible call-to-action, the pleasure and power of creative writing, #247Challenge. This mass participation driven by a coalition of leading literacy creative writing exercise urged everyone organisations and publishers, led by to try free-writing a story or poem, using First Story. With most young people at only 24 words and taking only seven home due to the pandemic, for NWD minutes, with the prompt, ‘One day…’. 2020 we took all activities online. This year's challenge really resonated In the build-up to 24th June, alongside with all age groups; literally thousands of our NWD partners we pulled together stories and poems were tagged and an impressive creative writing teaching shared via social channels. We soon and learning resource bank — which spotted common themes trending too, included nine specially commissioned, especially lockdown and the Black Lives feature-length video tutorials, produced Matter movement. Scrolling through the by First Story and led by some of our tagged pieces really gave a sense of writers. We encouraged followers on events and how the nation was feeling. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to try the tutorials, and then post new writing Once again this year, National Writing online using #WriteFromHome. Day trended No.1 on Twitter, with an estimated total reach of four million. This year's NWD Ambassadors, who helped to promote online participation, were Malorie Blackman, Jackie Kay, Cressida Cowell, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Mark Haddon, Laura Dockrill, Caroline Bird, Vinay Patel, and SF Said.

13 14 DIANA'S STORY

Before First Story I enjoyed writing, but I hadn’t really invested in it or considered it “as something I could build a future around. Working with First Story has made a huge difference. If nothing else, it has made me look again at the opportunities around me, to see them as being something I could succeed at, and it has given me the confidence to assess critically what is right for me.

I learned to shake off any feelings of nervousness. At first, I was scared to explore this more creative side of myself because it was new – everyone has an imagination and inner voice – but this was a more professional approach with a real writer, and a real writing group!

If it wasn’t for First Story, I don’t think I would have considered acting, directing or a whole world of other careers in the same way I do now. Diana completed the Young Writers Programme at Co-op You don’t push; you encourage Academy Grange in Bradford. and that’s an important She applied for and won a place distinction. It is so awesome on First Story’s summer to be surrounded by such residential course at Arvon, passion. Thank you so very Lumb Bank. Her work has been much for encouraging these highly commended by the Royal stories into life. Society of Literature, and she has read her work on Chapel FM. OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALUMNI If school online learning SUMMER RESIDENTIAL was this good, I’d be super Our annual residential programme is happy and excited to usually held at Arvon's idyllic writing “ retreat, Lumb Bank in Yorkshire. It's a attend each day! week-long, intensive course offered to a small number of young writers – CHUM SDIQ, RESIDENTIAL PARTICIPANT who have shown great promise during the academic year. First Story students nationally are encouraged to submit a personal statement, outlining what the opportunity would mean for them, in order to win one of up to 20 places. This year, due to the pandemic, the week long programme took place entirely on Zoom — and successfully retained almost all the key elements that make this project so special and impactful. For the second year, the project was generously funded by teamArchie.

RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE MENTORSHIPS

This exclusive partnership, in its third Nidaa’s work across the year year in 2019/20, offers a unique shows, time and again, the opportunity for a small number of enduring power and importance talented First Story alumni to be “of the imagination. It is writers mentored by acclaimed writers from the Folio Academy. The programme like her who are going to write us supports promising young writers to into a better, brighter future. develop their craft, working on a project of their choice. Mentees – LUCY CALDWELL, AUTHOR AND MENTOR receive one-to-one support and personalised feedback from their own dedicated mentor. Our 2019/20 mentors were Nikesh Shukla, Lucy Caldwell, Sharlene Teo, Adam Foulds, and Alice Jolly. Prior to the pandemic, participants would be invited in the summer to read their work in progress at a celebratory event at the British Library; this year's showcase took place online.

16 Every year since I began working with First Story, I’ve seen first-hand the positive influence it has over the lives of so many students (and adults too, such as myself!) It brings “together students from different year groups and different backgrounds and gives them a magical space in which they can become united through their work. They share their dreams, their nightmares, their laughs, their smiles and everything in between and it gives them a confidence and energy that is hard to come by at three o’clock after a long school day. It gives them a creative freedom to express their feelings and their emotions in a unique way. The beauty of First Story is seeing them break through any chains that may have been tying them down.

Following this pandemic, society will need to change, and because of First Story, I have every faith that the young people that burst through the door of the library every Tuesday afternoon are the ones that will change society for the better. They epitomise what it means to be ‘socially together’ and, without doubt, they will lead the way for society to become just that.

The work you continue to do is unbelievable and we are incredibly thankful for the great relationship you’ve built with . I hope we can continue working together to inspire many more students. Unprecedented is a word that is often thrown around but the work you do for our students truly is unprecedented and irreplaceable.

– TOM BELSHAW, ENGLISH SUBJECT LEAD AT NOTTINGHAM ACADEMY GREENWOOD ROAD CAMPUS TEACHERS AND WRITERS A great opportunity to share Developing the creative writing skills good practice across schools, and confidence of teachers is “these conversations have integral to First Story’s mission. For our work to have a lasting impact, enabled us to develop our we need inspired teachers who are provision each year. excited to share the craft of writing in their classrooms. Equally, First – TEACHER AT SKILLS SHARING FORUM Story is committed to investing in and supporting its incredible network of professional writers, without whom we could not deliver our transformative programmes.

During 2019/20, we supported 78 teachers with free Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training. Sessions focused on sharing our sector leading creative writing pedagogy, as well as how to engage 'hard-to-reach' students. We supported 46 writers too, through our Writer-in-Residence training and ongoing support to develop as teaching practitioners. First Story hosted five training forums at which writers and teachers shared best practice. We also partnered with UniSlam, the National University Slam Poetry Championships, placing three creative writing undergraduates in our schools to shadow our experienced writers.

Working as a First Story Writer-in-Residence has been a real joy. I have learned a huge amount as a writer and “practitioner. From the amazing students, to the incredibly committed teachers, staff and other writers at First Story, all of whom have offered support and ideas that have helped produce some great writing.

– ANTHONY CARTWRIGHT, WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE

18 SUPPORTER HIGHLIGHTS

LETTERS LIVE

In July 2019, Letters Live held a special event at the Royal Academy of Arts, hosted by Jaeger-LeCoultre, in support of First Story. Then in the first week of March 2020, Letters Live made its fourth appearance at London’s iconic Union Chapel, and First Story was thrilled again to be nominated as its beneficiary charity. Letters Live kindly helped us celebrate our partnership by giving away a pair of tickets to one of the sold-out shows to a lucky First Story supporter.

HACHETTE RECEPTION

In November 2019, publisher Hachette UK generously hosted a reception for us at their London HQ, Carmelite House — an iconic building on London’s Victoria Embankment, overlooking the river Thames. Taking over Hachette’s sixth floor for the evening, guests including alumni, writers, teachers, and funders, enjoyed a compelling talk by Booker- shortlisted author and First Story Writer- in-Residence, Rachel Seiffert, which was followed by an impressive reading and talk by one of our alumni, Blessed.

#12STORIES CAMPAIGN

In December 2019, we recruited 12 well- known literary figures — Juno Dawson, Nikesh Shukla, Caroline Bird, Priya O’Shea, Salena Godden, Joe Dunthorne, Bridget Minamore, Tom Holland, Tracy Chevalier, Damian Barr, Katie Thistleton, and Max Porter — to help us showcase the talent and creativity of our young writers, while also raising funds to support our Six Word Story competition. Over 12 days, each performed a six word story written by a First Story student. FINANCIALS

First Story's life-changing extracurricular provision is made possible thanks to the voluntary support we receive annually from various trusts and foundations, companies, and generous individuals. All partner schools contribute a fee towards the full cost of delivering our Young Writers Programme, but the majority of First Story's annual income comes from fundraising.

Corporates 13.2% School Fees SOURCES 24.7% OF INCOME

Individuals 19.1% £699,229 Arts Council 3.6%

Project Grants 38.5%

Cost of Raising Funds HOW WE 8.4% ALLOCATED FUNDS

First Story ended its 2019/20 financial year (on 30th June) with a small surplus of £40,375. At this point, the charity's unrestricted reserves were £311,426 — slightly below the minimum reserves level £658,854 established by the trustees of £361,676, which is based on the minimum viable budget for six months’ worth of committed programme and staffing costs.

Charitable Activities 91.6% 20 THANK YOU

Teach First, SCHOOLS WRITERS The Big Malarkey Festival The Priory Federation of LONDON Adam Kammerling Academies The Abbey Manor College Andy Craven Griffiths Andy Graves The Y Theatre, Leicester Addey and Stanhope School Anthony Anaxagorou Unislam Arts and Media School Islington Anthony Cartwright University College London Aylward Academy Anthony Cropper University of Huddersfield Berkeley Academy Ben Mellor University of Hull Chelsea Academy Bridget Minamore Compass School Southwark Cassandra Parkin University of Leicester Cranford Community College Cecilia Knapp University of Nottingham Fulham Cross Girls' School Christina Lewis University of Greenwich George Green's School Dan Powell Waterstones Nottingham Hampstead School Dan Simpson Women of Words Kensington Aldridge Academy Daniel Ingram-Brown Pimlico Academy Darragh Martin Platanos College Francesca Beard NATIONAL WRITING DAY Raines Foundation School Ioney Smallhorne PARTNERS Irene Lofthouse Saint Gabriel's College Authorfy St Martin-in-the-Fields High School Irfan Master Jarred McGinnis BBC Teach for Girls British Library The Cumberland School Jasmine Ann Cooray Jim Hall Cambridge University Wembley High Technology College Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Whitefield School Joe Marsh Kerry Drewery Driver Youth Trust Willowfield School English and Media Centre Woodside High School Lewis Buxton Mark Gwynne Jones FMcM Associates Matt Abbott Forward Arts Foundation Hachette UK EAST MIDLANDS Melvin Burgess Nick Conroy National Literacy Trust Nick Toczek Penguin Random House Djanogly City Academy Nik Perring Owen Craven Griffiths Judgemeadow Community College Paula Rawsthorne Landau Forte College Peter Hobbs SUPPORTERS Lincoln – A Priory Academy Rachel Seiffert Lincoln Castle Academy Ross Raisin EAST MIDLANDS REGIONAL Nottingham Academy, Wells Russ Litten ADVISORY PANEL Academy Campus Sarah Bradley Nottingham Academy, Greenwood Sonya Hundal Jane Dodge Road Campus Stephanie Cross Sue Dymoke Steve Cawte Josephine Guy The Farnborough Academy Steven Camden Emily Landsborough The Vicky Foster Sandeep Mahal The Nottingham Emmanuel School Jon McGregor The Winstanley School Tom Preston Witham – A Priory Academy DELIVERY Nicki Shore PARTNERS WEST YORKSHIRE IN KIND SUPPORTERS #Merky Books Avon DataSet Appleton Academy Primary Absolutely Cultured Penguin Random House Arvon Foundation Simkins LLP Co-op Academy Grange Back to Ours University of Cambridge BBC Contains Strong Language Festival Thank you to all of the Feversham Academy BBC National Short Story Award/Young Writers Award generous volunteers who Leeds West Academy BBC Radio Humberside donated their time and Springwell Academy Leeds East Blackwell’s talents to support our The Holy Family Catholic School British Library work during 2019/20. Bromley House Library University Academy Fair Education Alliance Greenwich University EAST YORKSHIRE Hull Chamber of Commerce Humber Outreach Programme Leeds Beckett University Hull Trinity House Academy Leeds Trinity University Longcroft School Lincoln Book Festival Malet Lambert School Melior Community Academy Old Royal Naval College Sirius Academy North Rathbones

21 FUNDERS

STATUTORY BODIES Arts Council England

COMPANIES AND COMMUNITY Amazon KDP TD Securities Man Group Letters Live Artists’ Copyright and Licensing Society Macmillan Publishers Write-Along-Movies Adverbally Challenged

TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS Astor Foundation BBC Children In Need Danego Trust Didymus Drapers’ Charitable Fund Dulverton Trust Goldsmiths’ Company Charity J.N. Derbyshire Trust John Murray Charitable Trust John Thaw Foundation Laura Kinsella Foundation Mercers’ Company Charity Miles Trust Network for Social Change Ofenheim Trust Paul Hamlyn Foundation Peter & Jane Aitken Sands Family Trust Sigrid Rausing Trust St Giles Charities Stonegarth Fund teamArchie Walcot Foundation Whittaker Charitable Trust

Thank you to members of the First Editions group, the Friends of First Story, our loyal monthly Supporters, and all our generous individual donors who choose to remain anonymous. A summary of First Story's impact during the academic year ending 30 June 2020.

TRUSTEES 2019/20 Ed Baden-Powell, Chair Jamie Waldegrave, Treasurer Aziz Bawany Aslan Byrne Sophie Harrison Sue Horner Sarah Marshall Betsy Tobin (resigned December 2019)

FOUNDERS Katie Waldegrave William Fiennes

Charity registered number: 1122939 Registered office: 44 Webber Street, London SE1 8QW [email protected] www.firststory.org.uk @FirstStory