Author visit

The partner school was invited to attend an author visit giving both sets of pupils the chance to work together to inspire new writing opportunities and discover new books to read. For World Book Day a group of ‘Able Writers’ from Y4 & Y5 in the partner school were invited to attend a talk and workshop run by the acclaimed children’s author Julia Golding. Julia talked about her books and research, including the history of Drury Lane and the theatre in the 1700s. Pupils from both schools were encouraged to share story ideas together, inspired by character and plotting quizzes and dressing up. Plans have been made to invite more pupils for a poet workshop in October 2018.

Aims

There is a growing body of evidence that shows the importance of reading for pleasure for both educational purposes as well as personal development. The aim of this partnership is to provide an opportunity for pupils in the partner school to meet an acclaimed children’s author that they might not otherwise have had access to. Additionally, it would provide the opportunity for both sets of pupils to work together creatively, to share ideas and hopefully encourage them to widen their reading choices and try different genres. Initially success would be determined by the level of enthusiasm surrounding the author’s talk and books once back in the respective classrooms as well as interest in finishing their story ideas.

Background

PGHS has a long history of inviting children’s authors into school to give talks and run workshops. An opportunity was identified to enable local schools to also benefit from these visits without incurring costs.

The School Librarian had worked on a similar partnership before and was aware that certain authors were open to this type of event. The cost of booking an author can be prohibitive for many schools so it is hoped that these sorts of joint and collaborative visits will be an exciting and beneficial opportunity for the schools involved.

Resources

The project is funded through the PGHS library budget and does not require a contribution from the partner school. Rooms and facilities are provided by the PGHS and the visit is coordinated by the school librarian and a contact (in this case the SENCO) in the partner school. It is important that the appropriate number of staff members can accompany the pupils from the partner school. Due to a restriction on space, the opportunity can only be offered to a maximum of 10 pupils per session from the partner school and as the school is a 15 minute walk away, feasibly, only 2 groups can attend each day offered.

Impact

The initial impact was very positive: feedback from the partner school commented that on their return to school the pupils were keen to finish the stories they had begun during the talk and that they had been absorbed and fascinated by the author’s description of her characters and storylines. PGHS pupils were equally as enthusiastic with many purchasing the author’s books and borrowing them from the library. It is hoped that future author visits will allow even more collaboration between pupils from both schools so that not only will more interest in reading be generated but a mix of ideas from pupils from different backgrounds will encourage more imaginative and creative writing.

Pupil Involvement

Y4 & Y5 pupils from both schools listened to the author talk, asked questions, took part in a quiz and discussed ideas together for writing their own stories.

Y4 & Y5 pupils – 10 boys and girls from each class from the partner school and 20 girls from each PGHS class.

Frequency

This was a single event, but it is hoped that the scheme will continue – the partner school is due to attend a poet workshop for National Poetry Day 2018.