Friday November 22nd 2024
Dear Diary,
To wrap up this week of school visits, I spent the day at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary in Malvern. And what a terrific time I had there! (George’s mum recommended me to the school. It was great to see her and George again — after initially meeting them both during one of my recent Waterstones events.) It was absolutely freezing in Malvern today, but the pupils and staff at St Joe’s provided such a warm welcome that I soon thawed out and got stuck into the day. With fewer than 100 children in KS1 & KS2, there was a cosy atmosphere in the hall for my assembly. I loved all the comments of disgust and delight that were quietly uttered whilst I read the opening chapters of WARNING: Magic Can Be Dangerous!… it was hard to keep a straight face at times, due to the pupils’ adorable reactions as they listened to the story. And after a great start to a day, things continued in the same vein. I can see why the staff are so fond of this school and their pupils. I think I fell in love with St Joe’s myself, in the short time that I was there. The pupils have such an appetite for learning, and a thirst for giving their all. They truly are an outstanding bunch of polite, talented, and creative individuals, and should be extremely proud of themselves. I’ve enjoyed all of the school visits I’ve done, but I must admit that I usually return home at the end of the day feeling absolutely shattered. Today, though, I arrived home feeling re-energised, with so many new story ideas buzzing around in my head! Visits to smaller schools always allow me to spend a lot more one-on-one time with each pupil, and today’s visit was no exception. It was wonderful to be able to listen to ALL of the stories, poems, raps, and tongue-twisters that were dreamt up. And for the first time ever, I was written into one of the pupils’ stories as a character! What a treat!!! Therese, Jess, and all the staff looked after me as though I was royalty. I wanted for nothing, and felt so taken care of throughout my visit. Jess went over and above at the end of the day, running up and down the slope with my card machine and my mobile phone, trying to get a signal. I hope she didn’t get too cold! And the St Joe’s pupils were fantastic, too. They held doors open for me, handed out worksheets and coloured pencils, were all so well mannered, and created such incredible written work and artwork today. I think there’s magic inside each and every one of them! I can’t wait to return next year with WARNING: May Contain Dragons, and I hope they’ll all get in touch via the website to show me more of their fantastic work in the future.
