Thursday June 26th 2025

Dear Diary,

Today, I set off for another small school, Kempsford Primary. After a cosy assembly for around 80 pupils – with a fantastic level of audience participation throughout – I then launched into the first workshop, for Years 1 & 2.

These young pupils really impressed me with their speed and ability when it came to the writing task. Jaiden managed to write short stories under all 8 of my title prompts in no time at all!!!

And Oliver wrote 8 pages under the title Dragon Farts vs Zombie Farts… and was still going when the workshop came to an end!

There were so many other super pieces of work produced that I struggled to believe these pupils weren’t older than their years. I especially enjoyed Harley’s story about a dragon hiding under the bed:

And I thought Lexi’s story and comic strip were both really imaginative:

My second workshop was for Years 3 & 4. It was great that so many pupils were eager to read their work aloud during this session. There were some wonderful stories, poems, and songs produced, but I think my favourite was Noah W’s story entitled Sorry, Sir, but a Dragon Just Ate My Homework:

I was in class telling my teacher what happened to my homework. When I told him that a dragon ate it, a legit dragon fell through the window in the ceiling and landed on his head!
“Aah, get it off me!” he yelled.
I pulled it off. Then it flew out of the class and down the corridor.
I followed it. It flew into the headteacher’s office.
There came a shout. “What is this creature ripping up all my papers?” came the angry cry…

After lunch, the Reception pupils blew me away during their workshop. They were so conscientious when it came to the letter tracing activity, and they were also super speedy! It was a race to the finish between Jesse (who won) and Charlie (who came second).

But despite achy arms and hands, everyone persevered to make it to the end. And many of the pupils went on to design book covers afterwards.

My final session of the day was for Years 5 & 6. When it came to reading aloud, there were definitely some inside jokes that went over my head and the teachers’ heads. But this session was a lot of fun, and there were some great stories, letters, and poems written. One of my favourites would have to be Freya’s story about her dragon-like teacher:

“Oi, you, we don’t get questions wrong. You are a disgrace!” my teacher, Mrs Gray, said.
She was the strict teacher. The sort that would roar at you for wearing odd socks or getting a question wrong. Sometimes, I even imagine her as if she was a dragon.
Today, she was shouting at Evan for having his laces untied. As she was doing this, she started breathing fire and started to grow wings.
Well, that didn’t happen, but imagine if it did! If you were in that situation, what would you do? I would run and hide in the bin. Because what dragon would look in a bin? Mrs Gray surely wouldn’t.

I also really liked Grace’s letter exchange in which her teacher refused to fall for her excuse about why she couldn’t hand her homework in:

And I thought Florence’s story about a dragon eating her grandma was really comical:

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Kempsford Primary. This was the first time I’ve visited this school, but I hope to return next year with my third book in the Words of WARNING collection. I still can’t get over the quality of work produced by the Year 1 & 2 pupils, so it would be wonderful to see how their creative writing progresses in the future. It’s always a joy to visit small schools, as I get to spend more one-on-one time with each pupil during my workshops. And the pupils at Kempsford Primary were so warm, welcoming, and hardworking that they made this visit another one that I’ll never forget.