Littlescribe founder, Jenny Atkinson would like to see every Australian child become an author - and not just when they grow up or when their spelling is up to scratch, but right now.
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The sentiment seems ambitious but Jenny is putting it into practice fast, Littlescribe connected 35,000 kids around the country last term, publishing and sharing their stories on its online platform.
The underlying aim of the literacy program is to reignite confidence in students' writing abilities, something Jenny said she never had growing up.
"I grew up in Cumnock and went to a very small primary school, where on a good day we had eight kids in the class," Jenny said.
"Then I went to boarding school in Sydney and I think that was a really eye-opening moment, when you go from such a small school to such a big school.
"At an educational level, I had managed to get through primary school without understanding the structure of the English language."
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Jenny said this became apparent when she started learning other languages like French and German at high school.
"The way they taught (languages) in those days, required an understanding of how the English language was structured," she said.
"If you didn't understand the structure of the English language, how on earth could you learn another one? "So I'm sitting there quietly not putting my hand up, and not understanding a thing, it was literally like going to a different world. Your confidence and desire to contribute takes a hit."
The idea for Littlescribe came to Jenny years later, when she was a mother of two and had a successful career in business management, working in the insurance and telecommunication industries, and property.
"I was at home with my daughter and her friend, who were off school for the day," Jenny said.
"I told the kids they couldn't have any tech so instead they did a word puzzle.
"My daughter asked me what's an 'obo-ee' so I used YouTube to look up Peter and the Wolf where one of the characters is represented by an oboe.
"The kids started play-acting, using pencils to pretend to play an oboe and a flute, I told them about stories and how Peter and the Wolf was a story through music.
"I suggested they write their our own stories and five hours later they were still going.
"They wrote five mini-books each and were so excited and proud of what they had done they set up a library at the front of the house."
Jenny said she attempted to have their stories printed, but everything she looked at wanted to type out the story or put in someone else's illustrations.
"It didn't honour their handwritten work which they were incredibly proud of," Jenny said.
And so the idea for Littlescribe was born.
But, Jenny dived in much deeper, discovering that Australia has seen 10 years of decline in writing skills across every school year.
"I could relate to myself being left behind and I was deeply concerned about my kids' peer group, with 25 per cent not meeting the minimum literacy levels," Jenny said.
"Just as importantly at the other end of the spectrum there are less strong, capable writers who have an important role in modelling and sharing with peers.
"The overall undeniable trend was despite innovation and access to more technology than ever before our children's ability to write what they know was in decline.
"I was genuinely curious as to why this was and believed it was possible to solve it."
Around three years later, after reading copious amounts of research and collaborating with literacy leaders around the country, Jenny puts Australia's declining literacy skills down to three key points - teachers lacking the skills or confidence to teach writing, an over-reliance on technology and a loss of purpose.
Jenny said one of the big questions she asked herself, what would be the one thing that would ignite and impact kids writing like no other?
"I thought, imagine if JK Rowling, the most read child's author in the world, wrote two pages and children could write the rest of the story, the one in their mind," she said.
That was the genesis of the idea for Littlescribe's co-author program, which sees well-known authors, like Andrew Daddo, Jackie French and Tristan Banks, come on board to write with the students.
"They've changed the relationship with the students, they're now not just readers, they're not just writers, they're co-authors," Jenny said.
"Imagine this becoming an initiative that's adopted by other countries and we have stories shared from all across the world."
- The Land is partnering with Littlescribe, publishing stories from schools across NSW. For the first story by Forbes Public School student Laura Chudleigh, click here.