Feedback from events

Thank you so much for visiting our school. The children have been really inspired by your visit and two of them even sent their stories to me via email the very next day after your visit. The children enjoyed the workshops and assembly and staff were positive about the experience too. We all wish you look with sales of The night whale and are all looking forward to hearing about any more new releases of yours as they come up. You now hold a special place in our reading culture across the school. Thank you once again for your visit and inspiration. x

Fantastic event and would definitely recommend.

Ray is such a lovely author to meet and the children loved her workshops. I really enjoyed how Ray started the workshops by talking about she invented her book characters and what made them special. Ray created resources which were appropriate for the children and she shared how important it is to visualise the settings in a story. Thank you for enriching the children with a love of reading and I would love for Ray come back to us soon!

Dan visited our school on 4 June 2024. He was dynamic, engaging and captivating. The students were enthusiastic about listening to him speak and asking him questions. Afterwards, several of the students talked about how, after listening to Dan speak, they felt like they had more options in terms of careers they could pursue related to football and other sports. Several of my reluctant readers were also keen to read Dan's book 'Unstoppable' after hearing Dan talk about it and read some passages from it. All in all, Dan's visit achieved everything we hoped it would and we will definitely be inviting Dan back to our school.

The talk on Henry the Vlll and the palaces he visited throughout his life, was very interesting. Andrew engaged the audience, they seemed fascinated with all the places and his life. The audience had a kind of history lesson and were intrigued by new facts that they never knew. Andrew was very chilled and made the talk relaxing and interesting. He was also very open to questions and answered them in away that made you want to ask more questions and for it not to end. It was fantastic and the audience loved it.

Eva Wong Nava was amazing. She told the story of her family, grandparents and great grandparents and the history of where she was born which was connected to her book The House of Sisters, where she spoke about the Mui Tsai problem in the crown colonies, and the story of 16 year old Lim Mei Mei and how she had been sold to a family as a servant girl and the journey of secrets in the house of Mister Lee in British Malaya. She falls in love and breaks all the rules in 1930's British Malaysia but has to find away for them to be together. Eva brought it alive for the audience with the history of buildings, and art and superstition and costumes that were worn back then in British Malaysia. Eva spoke about Lim's encounters with spirits and the plight of the Mui Tsai and how she falls in love with Hassan who are from two different backgrounds but fight to be together. Eva brought it alive with magic and held the audience until the end. Eva was a pleasure to have and knows how to tell a story with ease. Charming lady.

Daniel was great. We had 2 year groups present for the event and there was minimal disruption, which means they were all engaged and interested to learn more. Feedback from Year 7 was fantastic. They suggested as a school we have more events like this. We will definitely consider bringing Daniel in again but for a smaller group and maybe some activities. Thanks

Sophie Ambrose brought reading, writing and art to life when she came to visit. The children were captivated by her illustrations drawn live in the whole school assembly. Each year group was given a tailor-made workshop which allowed them to understand how she came to create her beloved characters: the lonely giant and Albie. She created a buzz and excitement during the week of World Book Day and sent children home eager to create their own stories and to get lost in their reading books. Thank you Sophie!

What a fantastic day! The assembly was very engaging and the children absolutely loved interacting with the story and the characters that Jason brought to life - brilliant! The children all took part in workshops throughout the day and also really enjoyed creating their own characters for their stories. They we still taking about them well afterwards. Thank you for coming to visit us!

Wow! Such a fantastic day with Matt. The assembly was engaging, informative and fun. The students who took part in the workshops dug deep to write about their own resilience stories and I have noticed a real uptake in borrowing (specifically Matt's books) since his visit.