School Visits
I love sharing my stories with their readers and visiting schools is one of the best ways to do this!
I'm passionate about inspiring young minds and love what I do as both
illustrator and author!!
Sessions can be completely tailored to the needs of each school and class.
What can be included in my visit?
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Story telling session - Book reading and discussion
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Ask the Author/Illustrator - Q&A session
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Art/Illustration creative workshop - this can be tailored to the curriculum and also linked to my books if required.
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Creative writing workshop - poetry as a story.
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Character creation and developing a story.
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Book signing
Who are my author visits and workshops suitable for?
Nursery, Reception, KS1 and KS2 with creative workshops made age appropriate. All sessions are delivered in a suitable manner according to the age of the children in the group.
How long are the sessions?
Book reading and Q&A are approximately 30-40 minutes.
Workshops are approximately 45-60 minutes depending on the creative intensity of tasks involved.
What group sizes do my sessions cater for?
Group sizes for both book readings and Q&A sessions are unlimited. If working in a school hall with power point facilities my sessions can easily scale up to 200 children.
For the activity workshops, smaller class sized groups are preferable but we can look at combining classes depending on numbers and facilities.
Number of session per booking.
I am flexible and willing to fit in with the school day.
If you have something in mind I am happy to help discuss and plan how the sessions may be built to suit the school's needs.
Where do I offer my visits?
I will consider anywhere if overnight accommodation and travel expenses are paid.
Transport may be charged at 45p per mile depending on location. Train transportation can also be used where more practical.
Fees
Where possible I try to keep fees to a minimum in return for my books being offered for sale through the schools.
This can be discussed at the initial stage of bookings.
Not all schools have the budget for outside resources however,
I am a big believer that all children should have access to the same opportunities in order to inspire them through life.
DBS - Yes
Wall of Love and Hope - Creative Workshop
I've been extremely lucky to have been able to run creative workshops over two days with the amazing children at Edward The Elder in Wednesfield.
It was an absolutely please to be part of this and both staff and children were a real credit to the school.
During these workshops, each child created a colourful heart design which will then go on to form a full wall display in the school hall. On the reverse of every artwork, the children wrote down their hopes and dreams for the future. This is something they will be able to look back on at a later date when the hearts are given back and will be able to reflect further on these challenging times we've all faced.
Wishing Tree - School Art Project
Here’s the wishing tree and painted pebble base created by all the amazing children at St John's Primary Academy Essington that, I had the pleasure to be part of.
With this, the children have created wonderful tags with their future hopes tied to the tree in a colourful and inspiring way!
The painted stones then reinforce this hope and wish for a colourful and brighter way ahead!!
Key Stage 2 Art Competition
In addition to author/illustrator visits and creative workshops, I can also assist in art competitions.
I recently assisted a local primary academy with a year 3 and 4 competition where the children created their own story board artwork about the positives of lockdown.
Their work was amazing!
Supporting the PTA - St John's Elf
As time slowly moves back to some kind of normality, we were able to put together some festive activities at my children's school. I was blessed to be asked to assist in this.
As already a member of the PTA, it had been frustrating in the last couple of years with the pandemic restrictions but for December 2021 we wanted to make up for it... cue the St John's Elf!
I created this little character illustration as a festive leader for lots of fun activities within the school including an Elf Hunt, Name the Elf, 'Elfies' (our christmas selfie fun) and much more. Competitions were run throughout the school for creative writing featuring the Elf and also Christmas themed arty design competitions.
For those interested... the Elf was finally named Bernard!!!
