ABOUT THE TEACHER AND FOUNDER

Maria Costa, BA, CELTA, PGCE
Former prep-school teacher with sixteen years of teaching experience
Rated Outstanding by ISI inspectors

KidzInk Creative Writing has helped me bring together the loves of my life: teaching and writing. If I add the fact that I care deeply about the education of all children, I've got something I can really share with the world. 

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I didn't always run my own classes. There was a time when I taught in schools and, as a former English teacher, I am proud of my experiences at the head of a classroom. It was there where I learnt not only how to teach, but just how important the influence of a teacher really is, and how every word, idea and belief is absorbed by young minds. The stories we tell our children about ourselves and our world matter. 

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The classroom was also where I realised just how little attention was focused on creative writing in schools. At the time, the emphasis placed on comprehension and maths was palpable, stifling even, yet creative writing was considered a mere add-on. I felt responsible to do something about it, to show children - those who were already writers but had nowhere to declare it - that creative writing was as important as any other subject and deserved its own spotlight.

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The first KidzInk Creative Writing lesson was launched in early 2017 in the back room of a local cafe in North London. It was there, on those four rickety chairs, that my passion for guiding young writers deepened. I marvelled at the way children called upon the stories they already knew, the vocabulary already built, the worlds already encountered to create something new.

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It started from a place of passion, not profit. Like many passion projects, it brought with it fertility and growth; my classes flourished with more and more children becoming writers under my guidance. Since then, I've added a monthly book club, the Bookcase Kidz, and international classes, which means my message is spread far and wide! 

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No matter how many emphatic testimonials one receives, nothing is a solo effort; I believe in transparency and working with parents to gain the very best results. We are a team because we have the same goal in mind: to raise happy, creative, lateral-thinking children.

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I'm not only a teacher: I'm a writer, a perpetual student, and a voracious reader. Everything I teach and advocate to the children, I do myself. I believe in literature as one of the highest forms of culture and want this promoted in my work because KidzInk Education isn't just a business for me - it's an expression and a testimonial of how I live. I'll see you in the classroom!

Maria  

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