Out of Bounds: Creative inroads into the boarding school experience

A series of Creative Writing for Wellbeing workshops (Zoom), 
co-facilitated with John Shirley

Wednesdays, 26th July - 30th August  
6.30-8.30pm GMT
(Next course Autumn 2023, dates TBC)

out of bounds (idiom) = outside the limits of where one has permission to be

A series of six creative writing for wellbeing workshops offering ex-boarders and their partners/spouses inroads towards achieving a better understanding of the boarding school experience. We will be creating a safe space for personal and group exploration with writing prompts and an opportunity to share (if you want to) and receive feedback. These Out of Bounds sessions are offered up as a gentle but powerful exploration of what it is to be a boarding school survivor and/or to be in a relationship with one. We aim to support and connect people who are reflecting more closely on their own or their partner’s experience of boarding school. 

John: I was sent to boarding school at the age of eight because my father worked for the RAF, moving around every two years, and so it was the done thing to send your children away to school. 

My boarding school experience looked idyllic from the outside. A country house in extensive grounds of flat playing fields and woods to roam in. It was 1972, innocent times maybe. Not in retrospect. Neither innocent or idyllic. Abandonment is what I call it now. Dropped off and left in an idyllic country house setting. 

It took me until my mid-fifties to start to properly re-evaluate the true impact of my boarding school experience. I have been doing the work now for five years and the lifting of hitherto unseen and inexplicably heavy burdens has been transformational to me and the important relationships I have with my wife, my family and friends. 

When I write, I make creative and imaginative inroads into the deep tissue damage of my boarding school experience. When I write, I see my feelings on the page and get in touch with my current self and my childhood self. I find words to connect the decades and make sense of what has gone on in between. 

Rachel: I didn’t go to boarding school, but I’m keenly aware of oppressive systems large and small that have inhibited my relationships with self and others over the years. Creative Writing for Wellbeing in groups has provided me with a rich and textured approach to self-exploration (turning in, tuning in, finding words) and self-expression (opening up, being witnessed, witnessing others), and I’m very much looking forward to running this series of workshops with John.

All levels of experience of Creative Writing for Wellbeing are welcome. All you'll need for the workshop is a notebook, a pen, and space where you can work undisturbed (to protect confidentiality for yourself and others), or earpieces. 

Zoom: Min group size 4, max group 10 £100/£80 (two concessionary rate spaces available - please enquire)

Read about the aims and objectives of my courses and workshops and read my FAQs, where you can also find out about my theoretical approach to running Creative Writing workshops.

The aims and objectives of my courses and workshops are: 

Aims

For participants 

• to feel safely held in a creative group with clear working guidelines

• to feel able to experiment, take risks and engage in self-exploration through their creative writing

• to find and/or develop their unique creative writing voice

• to gain confidence in the form and content of their creative writing

• to benefit creatively and personally from being part of an attentive, appreciative and supportive group

Objectives

Participants have the opportunity to

• write short pieces of creative writing in a variety of forms (story, memoir, poem, dialogue, letter, etc) from prompts such as text, picture, music, object or guided visualisation

• share their writing with the group if they choose to, and / or reflect on their writing

• hear their peers’ writing and reflections

• offer personal and supportive responses to their peers’ writing