Thank you to all the lovely schools that made me so welcome last term.
October was a month of secondary schools, and got off to a great start with a return visit to fantastic Litcham School in Norfolk. Thank you to superstar librarian, Cathy Berry, for organising it all and looking after me as always. I'm honoured to be Litcham's Author in Residence for a second year - thanks to the generous support of Swaffham Rotary Club. We have lots of exciting things planned for 2018.Watch this space!
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| Lots of students squeezed into the lovely library at Dereham Neatherd High School |
Not far away in Norfolk, I made my first visit to Dereham Neatherd High School. It was a lovely action-packed day with an author talk, book signing and workshops with enthusiastic, creative Y7, 8 and 9 students. Special thanks to fantastic librarian, Lorraine Gill for making everything run like clockwork. I could tell your library is the heart of the school!
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| With a happy reader at Dereham Neatherd High School |
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| Will you open the cursed box of treasure? |
Then there were two more return visits. A short hope down the road for me to Comberton Village College and then a little further afield to Loreto College, St Albans. I've visited these two schools nine times in total now and it's always a delight to spend time with such engaged and creative students. Thank you to yet more amazing librarians, Jane Hack (Comberton) and Ramona Parkin (Loreto), for inviting me back and for continuing to be such an inspiration and support to your students.
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| Book signing at Loreto College |
Moving into November, it was all about primary schools. My first ever visit to Danesholme School in Northampton was an absolute treat. The whole school buzzes with a fantastic reading culture. In addition to lots of workshops, I enjoyed chatting with an amazing group of Y5 students over lunch, hearing all about what they love to read and write. Thank you to
Esther Green,
Reading & Library Co-ordinator, for organising the visit and for all your hard work and enthusiasm.
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| Morning assembly at Danesholme Primary |
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| Book signing at Danesholme Primary |
Closer to home, I had a lovely visit to Bellbird School in Sawston, where I worked with Y 4, 5, and 6. It was a pleasure to lead workshops with such creative, enthusiastic students and supportive staff. I was delighted to read some of the fantastic 'dangerous scenes' that the Y6 students had written following our workshops (you can read them too on the Young Writers page). Thank you to
Geraldine Hines, Literacy Subject Leader, for inviting me and organising the visit, and to everyone who made me so welcome on the day.
Finally, another return visit - this time to Lyndon Green Junior School in Birmingham - fast becoming one of my favourite ever schools! It's such a warm and happy school, where children love their learning. I had a great day on my first visit, invited by Mr Davies, whose Y5 Class had been reading The Phoenix Code as part of their Ancient Egypt topic. I was honoured to be invited back again to work with this year's three Y5 classes - it was just as much fun as last time. Thank you to all the students and staff for your warm welcome.
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| Assembly at Lyndon Green Junior School (photo from Lyndon Green twitter feed) |
