Jayne Kirkham

WHY I DO IT

Growing up on Exmoor gave me a lifelong love of nature, adventure and the mysterious. It also, one way or another, nurtured a love of cinema, theatre and poetry. Having studied Film, Drama, English Literature and Screenwriting to Masters level, my first commission was a play for Radio 4. But having worked with children all my life, and having never grown out of watching cartoons, I decided to write for children and families.

Commissions include original feature films, adaptations of novels, shows for preschool, and older kids and online. I will write for grown-ups (I adapted Marina Lewyka’s novel Two Caravans, into an animated feature for Blue Zoo) but please don’t ask me to be all urban and gritty. I don’t do gritty but I do do muck.

Snort: I wrote do-do! Do-dos! I do like to squeeze out something earthy. But it has to be done with finesse, aplomb: I’m on a mission to put the art back into fart. Or is it the other way round?

I’m also on a mission to put the grr back in girl. And boys actually: getting kids outdoors in stories and for real. I’m a canoe and kayak coach. I love the whoosh and wah-hay of white water. But I really love the woohoo of someone realising they are so much more than they ever imagined! I think stories should empower as well as entertain. I write stories that give kids a hug.

MY TASTY CHUNKS OF BBC BITESIZE HAVE GONE LIVE

AUTHOR: jayne // CATEGORY: Uncategorized

28
MAR
https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/zkrkscw

BBC Bitesize, Key Stage 1 History – Monarchs and Leaders is now available online. Commissioned by Fettle Animation, my brief was to write the potted BUT HIGHLY ACCURATE biographies of various historical figures AND MAKE THEM FUN. The characters chosen ranged from these monarchs and leaders to famous scientists, campaigners, and others that kids get to learn about at Key Stage 1.

Sharing writing duties with Rick Goodwin and produced by Kath Shackleton, high points of this project were learning about Mary Seacole, whom I only previously knew from a mural on the side of a Reading building many years ago; and that Stephen Hawking was a prankster. Oh, and knowing more about the English Reformation than an executive producer. Low points were knowing more about the English Reformation than an executive producer.

Oh how I laughed.
THE BEST …TEE AND MO

AUTHOR: jayne // CATEGORY: Animation, Children's stories, Children's TV, Parenting, Writing for Children

13
MAR
That’s the title of my episode broadcast this week 14th March 2019 on Cbeebies and, well what can I say? It is. The Best.

I was first involved with Tee and Mo way back when it was just a few games. The lovely people at Plug In Media asked me to help them develop it for TV. Writing pilot scripts and an interactive story for the CBeebies Storytime App along the way, I feel like a great aunt who has watched her little charge grow up. Glad to see the show is a success and also glad that my episode this Thursday is… The Best.
TELLING THE STORIES OF CHILD REFUGEES

AUTHOR: jayne // CATEGORY: Children's Media Campaign, Children's Poetry, Children's stories, Politics, Prix Jeunesse, Refugees, Religion, Writing for Children

2
JUL
You might not have been aware that it was #refugeeawarenessweek recently. No matter, the terrible situations that some people find themselves in sadly haven’t gone away so here are stories I wrote for #CBeebiesRadio

With some minor adjustments to protect both the kids in the stories and the kids in the audience, each is a true story.

You might want to rant that such subject matter is entirely inappropriate for young children but young children are living through these things. Stories are there to help us understand and find ways to deal with what is going on around us. These stories celebrate the resilience, courage and love of young people and nobody is too young to celebrate love.

If you have read this far, then (oops I didn’t ask permission but as I wrote it… bad me) have this:

Taking Flight

Everyone needs a safe place to live,

Like a bird’s nest lined with warm feathers:

Full of kindness and love, it’s the place we call home,

A refuge from the world and the weather.

But storms can sometimes blow nests from the trees

And winter brings frost, ice and snow.

Birds have to fly south or else they would freeze;

To survive until spring, they must go.

Their journey can last for thousands of miles,

It’s a daring and dangerous quest,

Flying across deserts and oceans and isles

With little food and no time to rest.

And people too must sometimes take flight,

Like birds they have to migrate

From the cruelty of rulers and armies that fight,

Blown by the ice winds of hate.

This journey can last for thousands of miles,

It’s a daring and dangerous quest,

Crossing countries and deserts and oceans and isles

With little food and no time to rest.

But unlike the birds, these people have names:

They’re not just a crowd on TV,

They love and they laugh and they work and play games:

They are people like you and like me.

There’s Farah and Birhan, Hivi, Rafiq

With sisters and aunties and mothers,

Serbest, Amez, Natania, Sadiq

With fathers, granddads and brothers.

Refugee children love stories and art,

They love chasing and shouting and play.

They’re sporty, they’re funny, thoughtful and smart

And dream of being grown up one day.

Their journey can last thousands of miles,

With little food and no time to rest.

Crossing deserts and oceans with hope and with smiles,

It’s a daring and dangerous quest.

Then after the winter, the birds fly away,

But not to wander or roam:

They fly back to rebuild the nests that they left,

To the safe places they once called home.

And refugees too love the land where they lived

And many hope to return there they say.

When summer brings the warm wind that forgives

There will be freedom and peace there, one day.

Now that is a journey of thousands of miles

And a daring and dangerous quest;

Bringing peace and forgiveness, laughter and smiles

But of all journeys, that one’s the best.

For everyone needs a safe place to live,

When we find it, there’s no need to roam.

There we can grow and learn and forgive,

Full of love, it’s the place we call home.

WRITING THAT PUTS THE GRR IN GIRL, THE ART IN FART: STORIES THAT GIVE KIDS A HUG.

HELLO

WHAT I DO

WHY I DO IT

WHAT I'VE DONE

WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING

AUTHOR: jayne // CATEGORY: Uncategorized

AUTHOR: jayne // CATEGORY: Animation, Children's stories, Children's TV, Parenting, Writing for Children

AUTHOR: jayne // CATEGORY: Children's Media Campaign, Children's Poetry, Children's stories, Politics, Prix Jeunesse, Refugees, Religion, Writing for Children

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