wizardry /wĭz′ər-drē/
Great ability or adroitness in a pursuit.
The art of a wizard; sorcery
Exceptional creative ability
Great ability or adroitness in a pursuit.
The art of a wizard; sorcery
Exceptional creative ability
Spellcasters is a twelve week course that uses a combination of poetry, performance skills, linguistics, philosophy, meditation, science experiments, movement, language games and Shakespeare to nurture a love of poetry, greater confidence and deeper gratitude.
Spells are words that change the world.
Our trainee Spellcasters will be shown why we use the words we do, the power we can wield when we say them well, what is meant rather than merely what is said and thus to be better equipped to navigate a world all too deceptive and unkind.
Our twelve week program looks to give youngsters the same basic skills that classical actors use to provide power to their words, but through the prism of Poetry as Magic.
Spellcasters seeks to engage those kids who'd never dream of going to a ‘drama’ or ‘poetry’ club and in doing so, hopefully offers an esoteric way of fostering joy in the majesty of language; so promoted by Hampton’s own David Garrick, that he built a T emple to Shakespeare!
The fear is, the more systematized our world becomes, the more we only place value in things that can be measured. We may say, for example, "All you need is love" but until someone can measure 'love' in a meaningful way, there won't be any qualifications in it. So we test a child's knowledge of a subject rather than their love or passion for it. It doesn't matter that you'd have loved Proust at 25, if you can't regurgitate Dickens at 14.
Schools must teach to test, securing the all important OFSTED grades or climbing league tables, or face being eradicated. Thus, kids now learn to spot ‘fronted adverbials’ before they ever get to learn who they best enjoy reading or why.
With the relative difficulty of grading/teaching ‘creativity’ in these straightened financial times, we now see dwindling support for music, drama, art, and dance, in schools nationwide, as resources get directed toward ensuring children at 18 are better moresuited to the corporate workforce.
Yet, as the educationalist
Standardisation doesn’t just damage children’s education while they’re in school; it damages their (our) view of education throughout the rest of life. In the current school system, children learn that mistakes equal failure. They learn to be afraid of being wrong and are unable to take creative risks. This alone is a disaster. [Educators] must engage these students for learning to happen, excite their curiosity, their individual interests and stimulate creativity.Children learn to value themselves on how they match up to the very narrow view of intelligence valued by schools. Schools value STEM subjects, not the arts. An academic hierarchy which is based on the needs of a previous century. It leads directly to many talented and creative people believing that they are not intelligent because their skills were not valued in school.
Spellcasters is an attempt to create something that kids don’t often get: Something silly and sincere. My specialist subject on Mastermind was the life of Muppet founder and co-creator of Sesame Street, Jim Henson . There are books available where university professors break down 'The Philosophy of Jim Henson', (one of which, 'Imagination and the Magic of Mayhem', does a sensational job of summarising 200+ pages and conclusion perfectly in its six-word title) but to quote the man himself:
I've always tried to present a positive view of the world in my work. It's so much easier to be negative and cynical and predict doom for the world than it is to try and figure out how to make things better. We have an obligation to do the latter.
I believe that we form our own lives, that we create our own reality, and that everything works out for the best. Certainly I've lived my whole life through my imagination. But the world of imagination is there for all of us--a sense of play, of pretending, of wonder. It's there with us as we live.
On Magic
We are using magic in the sense that the author Alan Moore describes it:
I tend to see magic, in a way, as a kind of language. I think, unsurprisingly, the gods of magic ARE the gods of language. And magic is, in a sense, a kind of language with which to read the universe. It’s a language of symbols with which you can extract meaning from the most mundane things. I think that if magic is anything, it’s about realizing the unbelievable supernatural magic of us thinking and having this conversation. Realizing just how magical every instance is, every drawn breath, every thought. Just how astronomical the odds are against it. How wonderful! And following through these kinds of beautiful chains of symbols that can lead to some interesting revelations. It’s about uncovering the revelation that is in everything.
And, somewhat conversely, Radio 4’s Robin Ince on Magic:
Steven Weinberg, the Nobel laureate, once said, "The more Sthe universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless." Now for some people, that seems to lead to an idea of nihilism. But for me, it doesn't. That is a wonderful thing. I'm glad the universe is pointless. It means if I get to the end of my life, the universe can't turn to me and go, "What have you been doing, you idiot? That's not the point." I can make my own purpose. You can make your own purpose. We have the individual power to go, "This is what I want to do." And in a pointless universe, that, to me, is a wonderful thing. I have chosen to make silly jokes about quantum mechanics and the Copenhagen interpretation. You, I imagine, can do much better things with your time
Professor Emeritus of Warwick University, Philip Pullman, author of the multi-award winning 'His Dark Materials' series puts it most succinctly of all:
Language is for talking and sharing things and enjoying rhymes and songs and riddles and things like that.That's so important. I can't begin to express how important that is; the most important thing of all. A sense that language belongs to us, and we belong in it, and that it's fun to be there and we can take risks with it and say silly things in it and it doesn't matter and it's funny. All of that. If your sense of language is that it's something you've got to get correct and you mustn't get it wrong and you're going to get marked on it, judged on it, well … That's a pretty poor show.
['Paradise Lost' by Milton] actually had a physical effect on me; my skin bristled and my heart beat faster. It was my first real understanding of the fact that poetry is not a fancy way of giving you information; it’s an incantation. It is actually a magic spell. It changes things; it changes you.
Spellcasters is a feat of imagination; intelligent silliness to joyful ends. And if, accidentally, kids leave the program with a few things that spike their SATs? Fantastic, but that will come because they feel more confident and happier in themselves and with language more generally.
OVERVIEW
Our twelve gatherings have been designed to develop children's language, presentation, and storytelling skills by creating a world of magic and spellcasting to immerse themselves in. We are not lying to them or presenting reality other than it is - merely using the model of 'magic' and 'wizardry' to make a space for something joyously, life-affirmingly daft, in the hope of creating the foundations of more wonderful self image.
Each week, SpellCasters aims to give our young Magicians the space to learn and practise the skills that help live wondrous lives. Engaging mind, body and soul through poetry, performance, and play, to lead a richer, fuller life in these otherwise rather unmagical times.The program is tailored into two age appropriate versions:
Key Stage One (Ages 5-7) – The Sorcerers
Focus: Sensory, physical, and playful learning with shorter poems, songs, and movement-based activities.
Structure: More repetition, call-and-response chanting, and hands-on play
.Adaptations:Shorter, simpler odes. Increased use of props, puppets, and visual storytelling. More emphasis on sound and rhythm rather than deep analysis
Key Stage Two (Ages 7-11) – The Conjurors
Focus: Structured storytelling, deeper discussions, and opportunities to craft performances.Structure: Still playful but with an emphasis on creative writing, oral storytelling, and character
Adaptations:More detailed discussions of poetry themes.Students create and perform their own spoken-word pieces.Story-building games using improvisation and collaboration.
.What actually happens in a
Spellcasters
Gathering?
Focus: Structured storytelling, deeper discussions, and opportunities to craft performances.Structure: Still playful but with an emphasis on creative writing, oral storytelling, and character
Adaptations:More detailed discussions of poetry themes.Students create and perform their own spoken-word pieces.Story-building games using improvisation and collaboration.
Each of our twelve Twelve Gatherings follows the same basic structure
1 - falling over practise
2 - lying down practise
3 - standing up practise
4 - New Spells!
5 - Activity varies, based on Spells of the Week
6 - imagination practise
7 - reflection & Grimoire task
8 - Stars rain down and home
Alignment with the National Curriculum
Spellcasters supports spoken language, poetry, and performance objectives from the Key Stage 1 & 2 National Curriculum: Develop spoken language confidence through performance and debate
Explore rhythm, structure, and vocabulary in poetry
Encourage clear, expressive reading & public speaking
Use creative writing, storytelling, and drama to develop literacy skills
Support discussion, reasoning, and critical thinking through engagement with texts For neurodiverse learners, the program emphasizes strength-based learning, movement-friendly activities, and multimodal engagement to ensure accessibility and success.
Hopes for the future:
Neurodivergent-Friendly Version – The nDruidsA group with specific focus on supporting ADHD, autistic, and other neurodiverse learners with movement-based learning, gamification, sensory-friendly techniques, and flexible structure.Structure: Shorter, high-energy activities with built-in breaks and sensory adjustments.
Adaptations:More movement and hands-on learning (kinesthetic engagement).Personalized challenges (students set their own spellcrafting goals)
Clear visual cues and structured transitions to maintain engagement.
A Year of SpellCasters?
Could this be run as a year long program, alongside regular term times, building to something major at the end? We rather think it could, but we have to get the first term going before we can be sure we’re going in the right direction. We really believe the joys of the program could be something that all parties wish to continue. If that proves to be the case, the program could be expanded and offered on more days to more schools/kids.
SpellCasters:Wizards for Hire
Wizards who are available to attend official functions. Like a town crier, but less annoying. It seems a shame once we have gangs of kids with poetry at their fingertips, not to unleash them on the world. Imagine if the mayor started travelling with a handful of official wizards? Or local supermarkets required an ode before they could declare themselves newly truly open. If we built a willingness to be silly in the wider community, the effect of it could be contagious. Plus, it'd be nice if they earned a few quid out of it! I used to sing at weddings as a choir boy when I was 12 and suddenly walking about with a few bob off the back of your art WHEN YOU'RE A KID is mind-blowing. So, if we could help organise a bit of that, wonderful!
Weekend or Holiday clubs
Spellcasters: Full-body Alchemists.
Professional Wrestling meets Cookery and Science. Sounds bonkers doesn’t it? Imagine going to that if you were a kid? Heaven! But surprisingly the artifice of stage combat is safer than almost any other form of physical activity and the fun of being able to safely chuck your mates about, or pretend to take a beating, is a universal joy. There's a whole episode of Spaced about it! So, knowing that we all want our kids to be doing physical stuff in the holidays, what if we taught them that in the mornings, then the magic of cooking/science experiment-y stuff in the afternoons? I used to work as an explainer at the science museum, so science workshops used to be my bread and butter. And as the man who got Heston Blumenthal to open the school kitchen at Hampton Primary, I know a few folk who would relish (pun intended) the chance to teach food wizardry. Imagine being a kid and being told that's what you were going to do for two weeks over the summer?! INSANE, eh? But in the longer term, once we've got our term times sorted, who knows?! Wrap that in all the regular SpellCasters magic, and who knows?
If all places have sold out, please email us at the below address, with the subject WAITING LIST & we'll let you know if extra spaces or days open up