Educational Work

Working to deliver poetry in a wide variety of places Shirley has worked for a number of years for Manchester library information services , the service which offers children the opportunity to work with learning  study support staff.She has for many years delivered work shops  for schools within her role as study support coordinator. She has often mixed this with an introduction to writing and performing poetry. She believes strongly that developing young peoples creative skills enriches the curriculum and their overall experience of education.

Shirley has worked for many schools in the region and defines her goal as offering young people and communities the opportunity to find the poet or story tell within. Aiming to champion cultural diversity as it promotes inclusiveness by bringing together young people and communities form a wide variety of cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds.
She works to halt the risk of isolation for young people and young adults  from inner-city communities by providing them with a medium for expression within their own community and opportunities to travel outside of their communities to voice their concerns and views on a wide range of issues through spoken word . 
She aims to get the young people that she works with to work with established writers and performers, and has facilitated projects in which young people work with older people from the community to develope public performances.

If you are interested in hiring Shirley to work with your school or youth group, please get in touch via the contact page.