Academic year 2024 – 2025 started off in fine style! It was a pleasure to open new school libraries in Clitheroe and Colne – always makes my heart sing. I delivered my first ATSA session in Atherton, collaborating with Wigan libraries, to fire up talented writers from eight local primaries. School visits in Blackpool and…
There’s nothing like a quiet finish to the academic year and this term was definitely nothing like a quiet finish!! School visits across the North West included stops in Lancaster, Blackpool, Wigan, Clitheroe and Cheadle to name but a few, plus a couple of road trips to schools in Cumbria. This all meant I clocked…
If I’m honest, I was worried that WBD 2021 might not be able to happen. Covid and repeated lockdowns had changed everything and rather than visiting schools I was busy creating virtual options to keep the book buzz alive. Well I need not have worried! Schools and youth groups adapted, evolved and completely embraced the…
National Storytelling Week 2021 evolved into a two-week storytelling extravaganza! All visits were virtual this year, because of Covid-19, but the storytelling action wasn’t affected. I spent time working with a range of ages, from Nursery to Year 8 in the UK and even overseas. Zooms with schools in Bedfordshire and Lancashire, plus an international…
After six months out of schools due to Covid-19 it was wonderful to reboot my school events with a visit to St Johns CE Primary, Blackpool. Year 4 had been studying one of my Impossible Tales and reading Eric Appleby: Zero To Hero as their class reader. During the morning, we picked apart an ‘unseen…