What a letdown! 😳 For the first time ever during one of my FREE school visits, I arrived too late to deliver my assembly. On Wednesday 7th October, I feel I really let Holte School down. I always allow plenty of extra time for travelling, but when a journey that should have taken 1 hour 7 minutes ended up taking more than 3 hours (because a section of the M5 unexpectedly closed), I spent the whole time wondering if I was EVER going to get there. Thankfully, I arrived just in time to launch straight into my first workshop... very out of breath after running across the car park, dragging my author trolley behind me. Yet despite the awful start to the day, the rest of the visit went swimmingly, with four fantastic workshops for various Year 7 and 8 pupils. They launched straight into my activities, regardless of missing my assembly introduction, and they produced some super creative writing and brilliant book cover designs. Lots of certificates were handed out throughout the sessions, and it was lovely to hear so many pupils read aloud. A huge thank you to everyone at Holte School for being so understanding and for such a lovely visit. ❤️📚 wordsofwarning.com/c/events/… #FreeSchoolVisits #SchoolVisits #ReadingForPleasure #AuthorVisit #HolteSchool

I had a super day when I visited St Joseph’s Primary for the third time on Tuesday 6th October. There were a lot of new faces this time around, with many of the staff I’d met before having moved on. But the pupils definitely remembered my face, and it was lovely to be welcomed back by them all so wholeheartedly. It’s a smaller school, which makes for a lovely, cosy atmosphere during my assembly, and the pupils are always such a fantastic audience, with plenty of brilliant questions for me. They’re also always extremely engaged during my workshops, and they produced some more fantastic work again this time around... making deciding who to award certificates and my dragon prize to a difficult task. A huge thank you to everyone at St Joseph’s for inviting me back again. I had another lovely day with you all. And extra thanks to the wonderful new admin assistant, Mrs Munday, who couldn’t have been more helpful. ❤️📚 wordsofwarning.com/c/events/… #FreeSchoolVisits #SchoolVisits #ReadingForPleasure #AuthorVisit #StJosephsPrimary

For the first time ever, I recently booked myself into a @PremierInn the night before a FREE school visit, not trusting the traffic to get me all the way to London in time in the morning. So, I was rested and refreshed by the time I arrived at Aldborough Primary on Monday 5th October. I started off with two assemblies and then launched into workshops for the whole of Key Stage 2. The hall was a tricky one, with every sound seeming to amplify around the room. Yet the pupils were fantastic, giving my activities their all and producing some wonderful work. There were so many pupils wanting to read their work aloud that we sadly didn’t manage to get through everyone. But it was particularly lovely to see some pupils who wouldn’t normally get involved in writing activities, or wouldn’t normally share their work with others, doing exactly that. The teachers were brilliant, too, showing a genuine interest in everything the pupils were doing and helping so much in every aspect of the workshops. There were so many certificates handed out throughout the day. And congratulations to Rayan, who went on to win my Dragon Prize for a superb piece of writing. A huge thank you to Miss Warnock, all of the super teachers, and the brilliant pupils for a lovely first visit to Aldborough Primary. ❤️📚 #FreeSchoolVisits #SchoolVisits #ReadingForPleasure #AuthorVisit #AldboroughPrimary

I think I may have just passed another author milestone. 🥳 Yesterday, I delivered my 200th school visit! That’s 200 FREE whole-day school visits since May 1st 2024… - 220 assemblies - 777 workshops - 48,146 pupils reached - 5,744 books sold directly by little old me And I must say, I’m pretty chuffed with that. ❤️ Now, on to the next one… 🛒📚 wordsofwarning.com/c/events/… #FreeSchoolVisits #ChildrensAuthor #SchoolVisits #KeepChildrenReading #ReadingMatters

As an author, I love words... but I was recently forced to eat mine! A while ago, I told my husband that I simply couldn’t afford to do any more secondary school visits. My free whole-day school visits are funded by the books I sell during my visits, and with no parent pick-up at the end of the day (and my books aimed at children aged 6 to 12), book sales are harder to come by at secondary schools than they are at primary and junior schools. But days after telling my husband I was going to have to pull the plug on secondary school visits, I visited @wordsleyschool... and the whole visit felt like a giant hug. It was one of those days where every part of it felt incredibly rewarding... The Year 7 assembly in the hall was so well received, with pupils putting their hands up to ask questions. I then signed books for pupils who had pre-ordered copies that had very kindly been supplied by @WaterstonesWton, before spending some lovely time with a small group of Year 8 pupils. We had a question and answer session, before they chose whether to create a comic strip, design a book cover, or do some writing. They were so engaged and had so many super questions for me throughout. Then came the higher Year 7 workshop, where the pupils really got stuck into the writing. They produced some fantastic work, and there were so many deserving of certificates that choosing who should receive them was incredibly difficult. (I think we ended up photocopying some so that EVERYBODY could have one.) Isaac eventually won my dragon prize for an extremely comical, brilliantly written story that had us all smiling. I finished the day with a packed book club session in the library, with pupils from Year 7 to Year 11 firing questions at me and queueing up for signed bookmarks. The atmosphere was wonderful. And that’s when I started thinking about what I’d told my husband. Because whilst book sales fund my visits (yet are harder to come by at secondary schools), I want my mission to keep children reading to spread as far and wide as possible. So, perhaps I shouldn’t make such a blanket decision about secondary schools... especially when the wonderful librarian at THIS school had gone to so much trouble to advertise my visit, generate excitement, and get in touch with Waterstones Wolverhampton to make sure pupils had the opportunity to buy my books. Maybe I won’t be doing secondary school visits anymore... well, apart from returning to The Wordsley School next year. (I’ve already offered to go back, and they’ve accepted!) But then again, maybe I will. I’ve definitely got a lot to think about. A huge thank you to Ms Baker for organising the visit and getting so behind it, to all the staff and pupils at The Wordsley School for such a warm welcome, and to Waterstones Wolverhampton for supplying the book stock. I left The Wordsley School with a much-appreciated complimentary cheese baguette from the school canteen... and a huge grin on my face, knowing that I’d spread the joy of reading and writing to secondary school level. ❤️📚 #FreeSchoolVisits #SchoolVisits #ReadingForPleasure #AuthorVisit #TheWordsleySchool