TESTIMONIALS
 

I have worked with Apeksha, first at the University of Warwick, and later as we worked together to establish a new writing group for teenagers in a rural former mining town in North Warwickshire.

 

Apeksha volunteered on the Warwick Writing Programme for Schools, a year-long training course funded by the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning. She showed a natural aptitude for teaching, getting alongside the children and enthusing even those who had become jaded by their recent SATs with her evident passion for writing. She was thoughtful in her approach, designing activities which took into account children's different learning styles and abilities developed their writing skills. 

 

During this period, Apeksha's work with one particular pupil acts as an example of her considered approach to developing the skills and confidence of those with whom she works. In the first session at the school, Bailey stood out due to his hostility to writing. He refused to pick up his pen, and he was argumentative and disengaged. Four weeks later I watched as Apeksha sat next to Bailey, talking intently with him before leaving him to carry on, engrossed with his writing.  Later, when I interrupted Bailey to ask him what he was doing, he explained the principles of rewriting to me, telling me that he was going through the story he had written making sure he had chosen the best words, changing the tense of his writing in places, and making sure the reader would understand what he was saying. He had transformed into a confident writer with a good grasp of the craft of writing and a desire to communicate through the written word, a change due in no small part to Apeksha's work with him.