Portico Sadie Massey Awards

For the past five years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Manchester’s hidden gem The Portico Library as a workshop facilitator for their annual Sadie Massey Awards. This free to enter writing and book review competition is open to all schools and young people aged 7 – 18 and is a fantastic opportunity to encourage reading and writing for pleasure. There’s even a special arm of the Portico’s outreach programme dedicated to supporting pupil referral units and schools and departments with special educational needs to enter.

You’ll find full details on the Portico website along with a range of short creative writing video tutorials by the Portico’s author educators. Here’s a short video I recently created to support the book review strand of the competition.


You can also book a specially designed creative writing workshop with one of the Portico’s author educators. I love delivering my fun fairy tale and folklore mashup, where inspired by fairy tales and legends from the Portico collection, children create their own magical characters and write the opening to a fun fantastical story set in the North. I also leave schools with plotting and editing resources which will help them complete their stories ready to enter the Portico Sadie Massey Awards.

You don’t need to book a workshop to enter the competiton though – just an interest in writing and reading. I really hope you decide to enter. Good luck!

Princess BMX author Marie Basting virtually visits Year 3/4!

Found this lovely blog about one of my virtual school visits. Thanks again Hythe Primary for being BMX! And doesn’t everyone like sausage dogs?

thehythehowler's avatarThe Hythe Howler

Year 3/4 have had a very exciting week! On Friday 11th March, they had a virtual visit from Marie Basting, author of Princess BMX. They had the opportunity to ask Marie many questions.

Marie was very lovely and discussed her writing (including her new book which would be great for an upcoming Year 3/4 topic!) and shared her inspiration for Princess BMX. She was also asked about whether she likes sausage dogs!

Year 3/4 can’t wait to read more of Princess BMX especially because they know how great it is for boys and girls. We can’t wait to go on an adventure with Avariella!

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School Visits – please help me spread the word

I’ve been visiting some fantastic schools lately, but I’d love to visit more. Most of my visits come from word of mouth, so if you could help me out by sharing this fancy pants leaflet I’ve spent ages making, I’d be as happy as Princess BMX at the National Cycling Centre.

I’m currently offering a 10 percent discount to schools in Greater Manchester, Halton, Liverpool and the Wirral. If the school lets me know they heard about me through this post, I’ll even throw in free travel.

With themes of resilience, smashing stereotypes and developing a positive attitude, my assembly presentations have inspired thousands of children to defy the limits others place on them and #BeMoreBMX. Expect flying tea bags, awesome video clips and lots of fun. My creative writing workshops are just as inspiring and are ideal for KS2.

Here are some nice things people have said about my visits:

“It was brilliant and I would highly recommend it to all schools. Marie is fabulous!”
Tami Wylie, Teacher, Holy Cross Primary School, Oldham

Excellent communication from the very start. We met up in Manchester and Marie took great care to ensure that the workshops were relevant, inclusive, inspiring. Delivered with an excellent mix of input and then activities to ensure children maintained interest. […]The event was exciting, creative and successful in engaging the children, in a new way, to be writers. The volunteers from Friends of Marsden Library, the benefactor , Imbolc and our local councillor were all agreed that this had been a great event. One that the children will remember.
Sheila Bates, Friends of Marsden Library / Imbolc Festival

We were thrilled to be visited today by @riewriting who shared her book, Princess BMX, with us and led marvellous workshops on creating characters which challenge stereotypes. She left us with a clear message to be more BMX -be resilient and believe in ourselves! Thank you Marie!
Christ Church Primary, Birkenhead

Download the leaflet for further details. Shares, likes and general Princess BMX love are extremely welcome.

school-visits-leaflet-october-2022Download

Back to School Promotion

Book a full-day school visit for the autumn term and receive a 10 percent discount. 

As we enter the new school term, I am running a promotion offering a ten percent discount on my usual school visit fee.

Told by a careers advisor that girls like me don’t become writers, my school visits focus on encouraging others to smash stereotypes and defy the limits put on them by adopting a BMX mindset. To get a feel for the energy of my events, check out this photostream of my #BeMoreBMX assembly at St Oswald’s. I can’t promise a BMXer – St Oswald’s were lucky enough to have their very own – but I do promise flying teabags, bouncing eyeballs and lots of empowering fun!


Endorsements:

“It was brilliant and I would highly recommend it to all schools. Marie is fabulous!”
Tami Wylie, Teacher, Holy Cross Primary School, Oldham

 “Marie, Thank you so much for today’s virtual assembly. We LOVED it! The inspirational advice, breathtaking videos, fun quiz…the list goes on. We are all going to try and #BeMoreBMX”
Faye Cooper, Teacher, Adlingnton Primary School!

“Completely bonkers but a consummate professional, not a bad mix in my book.”
Kaye Tew Director of the Manchester Children’s Book

BOOKING & FEES

Please visit my events page for the latest information on fees. My school visits are competitively priced and I often run promotions offering a discount to schools within an hour from my home in Manchester.

You can also contact me to discuss fees and availability via e-mail – riewriting@gmail.com – or use the contact form on my website  https://mariebasting.com/get-in-touch/

School Visits Information


I’ve updated my website to ensure you can now find everything you need to know about booking a school visit – including fees and content – in one place.

Told by a careers advisor that girls like me don’t become writers, my school visits focus on encouraging others to smash stereotypes and defy the limits put on them by adopting a BMX mindset. An Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Met University, Outreach Tutor for The Portico Library and Writer in Residence at Writing on the Wall, I have extensive experience of delivering both virtual and in-person events to children and adults.

To get a feel for what I offer, check out this photostream of my #BeMoreBMX assembly at St Oswald’s. I can’t guarantee a BMXer but I do promise flying teabags, bouncing eyeballs and lots of empowering fun! Interested? Then full details of my school visits can be found here.

***** And I still have limited availability around World Book Week ****