Monday May 19th 2025

Dear Diary,

This morning, it was back to Linden Primary for another whirlwind of a day, with my assembly swiftly followed by eight… yes, EIGHT workshops! (Didn’t I say last year that I wouldn’t recommend so many back-to-back workshops in one day?!?!) During the assembly, I was quickly reminded what amazingly attentive listeners the students at Linden are, as they sat in silence and fascination whilst I read the opening chapters of WARNING: May Contain Dragons. And it was a joy to see that they were all just as eager to volunteer and ask and answer questions as they had been when I was there around the same time last year.

My first classroom session was for Class 13 (Year 6). Both Year 6 classes sadly missed out on my assembly, as they were having their individual school photos taken whilst it was going on. And if I’m honest… when I reached Class 13, I was expecting to see worn-out-looking pupils, given that they’d all completed their SATs the previous week. So, I was amazed to see how alert they were, and was even more impressed to witness the written work they came up with during my short but sweet thirty-minute session. Lots of certificates were awarded, but I especially liked Theo’s super poem about a dragon hiding under his bed:

It was then time for more of the same, with the Year 6 pupils in Class 14 also happily getting stuck into my creative writing activity. They came up with some super work in no time, and lots of pupils wanted to read their work aloud to the whole class. But of all the masterpieces produced, I thought Bisola’s story – written under the title Dragon Farts vs Zombie Farts – really stood out:

After flying down the corridor with my author trolley (given I had no time to spare to get to the next classroom), it was time for the first Year 5 workshop (for Class 11). Once again, the session was over in a flash, but not before we’d been treated to all number of fabulous stories, poems, and raps. I particularly enjoyed Khadija’s account about why dragons don’t wear pyjamas:

Class 12 (Year 5) was next in line for a workshop. The pupils in this class were fast workers, with many of them producing pages of work in the short amount of time we had allocated for this session. There were so many certificates awarded, but it was Robyn’s story about a dragon hiding under the bed that really tickled me:

And in Class 9 (Year 4), it was Cassie and Shanaya’s collaboration that impressed me the most:

With five sessions under my belt, there was just time for a bite to eat and to catch my breath before the afternoon sessions got underway. The pupils in Class 10 (Year 4) had super imaginations, and many were natural storytellers when it came to reading their work aloud, including Cooper, whose story stank… but only because it was about dragon farts vs zombie farts:

The penultimate session for Class 8 (Year 3) was a bit of a blur. But I remember loving Harvey’s story written under the title There’s a Dragon Hiding Under My Bed:

And I THINK I made it through the final session without collapsing in a heap on the floor from exhaustion, as I’m sure I remember Franklin writing a super story about a science experiment that went wrong and ended up turning his teacher into a dragon:

My memories of today are a little less blurry than my memories of last year’s visit to Linden. But one thing that will always stick with me is how kind, polite, welcoming, engaged, and hardworking the pupils at this super school are.

It was an absolute pleasure to spend the day at Linden (despite the fact that I STILL wouldn’t recommend doing eight back-to-back workshops in one day), and I hope today’s visit there won’t be my last!