What are the particular skills and areas you have to consider when writing for schools? 

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Writing for a secondary school situation requires you to shape your ideas and concept into a particular form. Cast size is important, I try to write for a minimum of 16 -20 roles where as in professional theatre a NZ writer will usually write for a cast that is a quarter of this size. A good balance of Principal roles and Chorus roles is necessary, as a good school production cast is often a balance of experienced performers and relative newcomers. Ideally the Chorus requirements should be flexible in terms of numbers and gender. As schools are generally conservative places, the choice of content is important, few schools will stage a play that has controversial content or offensive characters. To ensure that a play is not overly cautious, I think it is important to take artistic risks, for me this is often in the dramatic form and the conventions I use. I believe teenagers are natural risk takers and therefore my intention is always to create a text that pushes the boat out a little.