Friday March 7th 2025
Dear Diary,
It was back to WARNING: Magic Can Be Dangerous! for today’s free school visit, and I had a magical time at Hardwicke Parochial Primary Academy! A few excitable little ones passed through the hall as I set up for assembly, and seemed rather taken with my giant revolving book prop. Then some of the older pupils walked through, including Ryan. When I asked him whether he likes reading, he told me he wasn’t too sure, and tasked me with making up his mind during my visit. (Mission accepted!) The children behaved impeccably during my thirty-minute assembly, joining in with gusto whenever it came to audience participation. The hall then emptied, leaving only the Year 2’s behind, and we got stuck straight into their workshop. Of all the stories, poems, and songs created during this session, I think Evie’s witty tale about a superhero whose trousers kept falling down was my favourite. And in the workshop that followed for Year 4, the monster Mason created was brilliant. By the time I stopped for lunch (after a further workshop, for Year 5), I’d witnessed so many wonderful pieces of work that I’d begun to lose track of who had come up with what. But what I do remember is that Oscar in Year 4 and Oskar in Year 5 wrote super stories and both want to be authors when they’re older. They had lots of questions for me, and I hope to hear from them via the website if they want some more tips. After lunch, the whole of Year 3 squeezed into one classroom whilst the dinner staff finished cleaning the hall. This session seemed to be over before it had even begun. Perhaps that’s because we somehow managed to fit two activities into 45 minutes, giving the pupils a chance to show off their artistic skills with a drawing activity (as well as a writing one). When I returned to the hall, Reception and Year 1 were patiently waiting for me. We had to mix things up a little during this workshop, as I have different activity sheets for Reception pupils to every other year group. Everyone had a go at drawing incredibly odd Uncle John to begin with, then the younger pupils traced some sentences whilst the older ones got busy writing. Adelle’s story about a crazy old lady who puts children in the bin was hilarious, and she kindly read it aloud to the whole group. But I still wasn’t done for the day at this point, as there was one year group I hadn’t yet spent time with – Year 6. Sometimes, the last session of the day is a tricky one, as everyone’s tired… including me… especially on a Friday! But in today’s final workshop, the pupils seemed full of energy, and it was a struggle to decide who to award certificates to! After an assembly and six workshops, I felt pretty shattered by the time it came to setting up tables in the playground to give away free stickers and bookmarks and sell copies of the book. But I soon perked up when Ryan (who had told me first thing that he wasn’t sure he liked reading) bought a book and admitted I’d convinced him he does like reading after all! I don’t think it gets much better than that!!! Alex kindly organised today’s visit, and the staff were fantastic – especially my wonderful card-reader operator and other helpers at the end of the day. The pupils at Harwicke Parochial Primary made today’s visit another truly memorable one, and I can’t wait to return at some point in the future with WARNING: May Contain Dragons.
