Friday May 16th 2025

Dear Diary,

Today, I travelled to Wales to spend a delightful day at LLangattock CIW Primary. During my assembly, it was evident how much the pupils all enjoyed reading and how excited they were to have an author in their midst. And when I launched into my workshops, it soon became clear that many of them were budding authors themselves.

My first session was for Years 5 & 6 (Dosbarth Teilo). It was great to see how many pupils in this class were keen to read their written work aloud. And it was lovely to see how impressed their teacher was with the ideas they all came up with when given the freedom to tap straight into their creativity and do some free writing, rather than agonising over plotting and planning everything out to begin with. There were so many super stories, poems, raps, and diary entries produced that it was difficult to decide who to award certificates to. But I especially liked Ben’s witty poem:

… Chloe’s story about her teacher being a dragon:

… Cillian’s story about a dragon hiding under his bed:

… Ethan’s hilarious diary entry about a dragon eating his grandma:

… and Santi’s four-page story written under the title How to Train Your Dragon to Do Your Homework:

I also thought the comic strip Santi drew to accompany his story was really eye-catching:

… as was Seb’s super comic strip:

Next, it was time for a workshop for Years 3 & 4 (Dosbarth Catwg). These pupils were just as enthusiastic about the activities I presented, and so many of them were keen to read their work aloud to the rest of the class. I offer the choice of eight different title prompts for the first activity, but I’m always amazed at how the work that different students produce under the same title prompts varies so much, thanks to their individual and unique writing styles and imaginations. In this session, I really enjoyed Cerys’ story about a grandma-eating dragon:

… Ffion’s story about a dragon hiding under her bed:

… and Charlie’s comic strip entitled How to Train Your Dragon to Do Your Homework:

After lunch, I spent time with Years 1 & 2 (Dosbarth Dwynwen). The students in this class were really keen to show me their writing skills, and this session absolutely flew by, with round after round of them eager to read their work aloud.

I particularly loved George’s story:

… Bonnie’s diary entry:

… Meg’s story:

… Valentina’s story:

… and Evan’s book cover design:

And given how impressed I’d been by all the students earlier in the day, I should have anticipated being blown away by the Reception (Dosbarth Dewi) pupils last thing… but I certainly wasn’t prepared for just how incredible they were!!! It was such a warm and sticky Friday afternoon, so I wouldn’t have blamed them for feeing hot and bothered and unwilling to give my activities their all. Yet instead, I found them all to be exceptionally hardworking… and extremely quick workers. In fact, they were such fast workers that I didn’t even get to make a note of who we gave badges and certificates to!!! Which is a real shame. But I did, thankfully, manage to snap a quick photo of Dylan’s and Siân’s work:

All of the parents were so patient at the end of the day when my frazzled brain was trying (unsucessfully) to wrap itself around a brand-new system for book sales (this was the first time I’ve booked a school visit through Book-ish, but I hope it will end up being the first of many). And once I’d finally knocked off for the day, I received a very welcome treat… a delicious Welsh cake and a selection of hot and cold drinks from the headteacher, for the long journey home!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Llangattock CIW Primary. It’s always a joy when the teachers get just as involved in the workshops as the students, and the teachers today couldn’t have been more invested in all the activities I put on. I was sad to say goodbye and make my way home, but I hope to return to Llangattock again at some point in the not-too-distant future.