Simon Bor
Writer
Simon studied ‘Animation’ at Farnham and has MAs in ‘Professional Writing’ from Falmouth University and ‘Writing for Young People’ from Bath Spa University.
He set up Honeycomb Animation with Sara Bor and has been involved in children’s media since the mid-1980s.
As a writer, Simon has co-written and created several shows including CITV’s ‘Tube Mice’ and Milkshake’s ‘Funky Valley’. As a director and producer, he has been responsible for several half-hour specials and over 20 animated series including multi-award-winning ‘Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids’ and ‘Wolves, Witches and Giants’.
Simon presented a paper on the crisis in boy’s reading at the 2025 Leaf conference. He is currently writing children’s and young adult fiction.
Simon Bor's Sessions
Understanding Kids 6: Screen Media and the Developing Brain
Takeaways The pace of children’s content is much faster than it was twenty years ago. Adults build their understanding on prior knowledge, but young children don’t have prior knowledge. A toddler's brain takes 10 times as long to process content than an adult, so the pace must be slow. Professor…
Finding the Funding: Your Show, Their Dough
Takeaways The BBC has spent over £1m on development with BBC Ignite. Northern Star joins together public service broadcasters from Northern Europe and the UK. The UK Global Screen Fund has an increased budget of £18m. Justine Bannister (JUST B), introduced the session that looked at some funding options available…
Understanding Kids 5: Understanding Multilingual Children Audiences
Takeaways 25% of children in UK schools and 30% of pre-school children are from multilingual homes. We should move on from ‘celebrating’ to ‘normalising’ multilingualism. Professor Sabine Little of the University of Sheffield has researched the lives of multilingual kids for twenty years. She told us that 25% of children…
Inclusivity Now: Making Inclusion Sustainable
Takeaways A diversity team's work should be embedded in everything a company does. Inclusion is never done. What felt like inclusion five years ago doesn’t now. DEI is not just a nice thing to have. It is essential. Host Beth Cox is an Inclusion and Equality Consultant for the publishing…
The Art of Talking Music with Composers
Takeaways There’s money to be made on YouTube and Spotify if you can find a way of playing the game. Bring musicians into the process as early as possible and don’t be afraid to talk music. 'Sonic Identity': David Arnold uses the original James Bond theme whenever Bond does something…
Question Time
Takeaways BBC need to reach young people in new ways (including YouTube) and solve core funding issues if their Charter is to be renewed in 2027. There is a need for platforms to be safer spaces for young people and to protect users' data. All platforms need to have the…
