Meet the Author - Primary School Literacy Event

This is an annual event on the Park which celebrates reading, books and creative writing with students from local primary and prep schools.

The event takes place in the Summer Term and welcomes up to 100 students onto the Park for an exciting authour talk, the opportunity to have a book signed by the author as well as taking part in creative writing workshops with members of our English department and A'level/IB English students from our 6th form.

Aims

To share a love of reading with the wider community, focusing our attention on KS2.

Access to authors, talks and workshops as a specialist event for primary schools.

Schools without well resourced libraries are shown how a flourishing library works to engage readers in schools.

Background

Our school librarian has been doing author events and talks for a number of years at LP and is passionate about the benefits of outreach work.

With her expertise and guidance this has developed into a larger event over the years, bringing in a range of schools from the local area.

Resources

Funding for the author visit comes from the Library at Leighton Park. The event uses the main hall facility and foyer for a reception for the children, as well as the book signing area. 

The English department are heavily involved with the workshops after the talk as they staff these sessions in house.

The school provides a small snack and drink for all the students as well as lunch for those staying on site to attend the workshops.

 

Impact

A questionnaire will be used for this event and some teacher feedback forms.

We woud like to know about the quality of written work from the students after the event and their engagement with reading.

We often have a follow up event where our 6th form students and English department visit the schools to see how they are making progress in English.

Pupil Involvement

This event is for students in Year 5 and is mixed gender.

There are a good mix of state and prep schools at this event.

Frequency

This is an annual event in the Autumn Term.