Awards

• Fiction Express award winner 2022
• Fiction Express Award Winner 2020

Organisations

• (SCBWI) Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
• The Society of Authors
• NAWE - The National Association of Writers in Education
• Literature Wales - The Welsh Academy

Details

Hello and thanks for taking the time to look at my profile...

I've written over 180 books for Primary School aged children (including some of the popular Project X books) and I love visiting schools to share my passion for stories, reading and writing. I work with all Primary School Aged Children so your Whole School will be included in a visit. My sessions are designed to motivate young readers and writers and I've visited hundreds of schools in Great Britain (and abroad including Switzerland, Belgium, Uzbekistan, Poland) so it doesn't matter how near or how far away you are... I will be delighted to come along.

I'm very flexible with what I do in school and am more than happy to work with you to fit in with your school's needs and what you want to achieve. As a rough guide, I generally offer two types of session. These are flexible and can be combined throughout the day...

Session type 1 - Performance 

A fun and lively mixture of storytelling and chat with sessions suitable for children from Nursery to year 6. 

These sessions work equally well with single classes or much larger groups.

As well as sharing stories and poems, I talk about different aspects of writing; from getting ideas, editing and drafting to what it's like being an author. Audiences get the chance to see books and stories in progress and get an insight into how a book is made - generating ideas, drafting, editing, reworking and even the illustrations and layout.

Although structured, these sessions are very flexible, so it allows each one to be unique to the group I'm working with and ensures that the children get as much from the sessions as possible. Children (and adults) always have lots of questions to ask and I'm happy to answer any and all that I can as the session goes along. I have found that this helps to make every session different and interesting to each individual and helps create a real buzz.

Length of session - 20/30 minutes for Nursery, 30/45 minutes for Reception, 45/60 minutes (or more) for other year groups.

Number of children - From a single class to multiple classes or year groups. (During the course of a day I will be able to do sessions with the whole school)

Location - A suitable classroom, library, or hall.

Materials - A table to work from, and, if showing how I get ideas and building up a story, an interactive whiteboard/flip chart and pens.

Session type 2 - Fiction Writing Workshop

I really enjoy working with a class to create characters and build up a story together and it's great to see the children's confidence increase as the sessions progress. 

Starting with a blank sheet, the children get to see the whole story writing process - from getting the initial idea to writing and editing etc - it also gives them complete ownership of what they have produced and a real sense of achievement. I'm also more than happy to work on a specific area of writing or on a topic or theme if it fits in with what you are doing in school e.g. Traditional Tales, Twists in the Tale, Greek Myths, Space, Dinosaurs, Vikings etc etc... please feel free to suggest.

Length of session - 1 hour (the maximum time is completely up to you - and I'm more than happy to spend a day with a single class or return to school for extended projects). 

Number of children - for writing, preferably a single class.

Materials - An interactive white board that I can write on with the interactive pen. (This means that whatever I do can be saved so th children can refer back to it later. (Alternatively, a flipchart with paper or a normal whiteboard.)

Location - A suitable classroom. 

Writing Workshop - Non-fiction

In my non-fiction sessions I work with a class to look at the writing of non-fiction books. We start by looking at the difference between fiction and non-fiction and consider some of the similarities. We look at the ways in which we can conduct research for non-fiction books and the different ways of presenting the facts and information to make our writing more interesting and inviting to readers.

I can turn my hand to most topics but can readily take on subjects about which I have written and researched including - Dinosaurs and Fossils, Vikings, Space, Flight, Christopher Columbus, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth I, L.S. Lowry and more... feel free to suggest a topic.

What people have said...

Sarah Holden Retweeted EastergateCEPri

"I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the inspiring workshops that you presented to the children at Unicorn. A fun time was had by all and I know that we will be very happy to recommend you to other schools."       Natalie Crowe - Unicorn Primary School, Bromley.

I have public liability insurance - £10 million

I also have a current Enhanced DBS Certificate

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