Monday April 7th 2025

Dear Diary,

Today, I returned to Christ Church Primary, just a few miles from home. And what a reception I received!!! It’s always lovely to return to schools I’ve visited before, where the pupils already know me, and I remember many of them. They listened attentively during my assembly – despite the wind blowing through the hall and causing chaos, first knocking one of my giant book props down and then tumbling my vertical banner – and they joined in whole-heartedly with hands up to ask and answer questions throughout.

My first workshop of the day was for Year 4. They were such silent workers, and came up with some real masterpieces. Reggie’s story entitled A Dragon Just Ate My Grandma really tickled me:

This morning, there was a dragon in my lounge! A huge, scaly dragon, with teeth as sharp as blades. Sitting next to the creature was my calm grandma. But as the dragon’s mouth opened, Grandma’s face stiffened into a terrified look. She couldn’t move… she couldn’t shout. Everything fell quiet. Until the dreaded roar and unforgiving scream. I turned around, and the next moment, Grandma was gone! Droplets of blood spattered everywhere. Then the dragon turned to me…

I also thought Harry’s story was super:

It was a summer’s day and BANG! The door slammed closed. ‘I’m home,’ shouted Dad, running up the stairs. He had a surprise for a little boy called Max. (Max was Dad’s son; not just a random little boy.) Anyway… this was a very special surprise. It was a toy dragon. But it wasn’t just a normal toy dragon; it was wearing pyjamas! Dad entered Max’s bedroom and said, ‘I have a surprise for you.’ Dad placed the toy dragon on Max’s bed, and Max asked, ‘Do dragons need pyjamas?’

Next, it was on to a shorter session for Years 1 & 2 in the hall. Some of the Year 1 pupils really impressed me with their extensive vocabulary and their grasp on sentence structure (at such a young age). But in Year 2, it was Lyra who really stood out, with her fantastic story about what dragons do with doughnuts:

We managed to fit one more workshop in before lunch, for Year 6. It was hard to decide who to awards certificates to during this session, as there was some fantastic work produced, but I really enjoyed Ethan’s comical diary entry:

And I also loved James’ story entitled My Teacher Is a Dragon:

After lunch, it was on to Year 5. These students were quiet workers, too, just like the Year 4s, and they came up with some terrific written work and artwork during this session. Tilly was on fire… writing pages and pages about dragon farts vs dragon farts! I also thought Leena’s story about her teacher being a dragon was great:

And I particularly liked Fred’s story about a dragon hiding under his bed:

Eleanor’s comic strip was great fun, too:

And I wish I’d been able to see Dominic finish his comic strip before I had to leave:

My final session was for Year 3. But if the pupils were tired at the end of the day (like I was), then none of them showed it. Sadly, my old brain can’t quite remember who came up with what in this group. But I do remember loving Chris’ acrostic poem about a dragon having eaten his homework:

And many more Year 3 pupils received certificates.

After another super day, I now need to get ready for tomorrow’s return visit to another local school. But I’m so grateful to all the wonderful students and staff at Christ Church Primary for making today another magical and memorable one!