Thursday May 1st 2025

Dear Diary,

It was off to Bristol this morning for my school visit to Redmaids’ High. And what a wonderful day I had there! I arrived to discover that Max Minerva’s had done me proud, with huge quantities of both of my books on display in the reception area. Then I was greeted by Zoe, the junior school’s lovely librarian – who I could have spent the whole day chatting to about children’s books, had I not had an assembly and workshops to host. The pupils at Redmaids’ were an amazing audience during my assembly, and they came up with some brilliant dragon book titles of their own (none of which I can remember now, sadly). It was abundantly clear that these students have a real passion for books and are big readers, so I couldn’t wait to get stuck into my workshops.

Year 3 was first, and the pupils in this class really impressed me with how quickly they came up with ideas and got them down on paper. Rather than moving on to the comic strip activity that I had planned for the second part of the session, it was unanimously decided that we’d stick with the writing task, as they were all enjoying it so much! (I love that!!!)

I particularly enjoyed Samantha’s story:

I also loved Amira and Olivia’s:

And Isabelle had everyone giggling when she read her story aloud:

I know you know what a unicorn fart is. I know you know what a dog fart is. I know you don’t know what a dragon fart is. Let me describe it to you. It’s like your little brother’s worst farts with a hint of rotten compost on top. Now you know what a dragon fart is, let’s move onto zombie farts. Zombie farts smell like mould, dust, and grime. And yes, I did say dust. If you find that a zombie is farting in your face, you don’t want to be allergic to dust…

Josie’s story about her teacher being a dragon was great fun, too. And Amandina’s imagination was on fire, as she came up with a super story which began:

One day, I went to get a doughnut from the fridge. When I bent down to get one, I felt something cold and slimy. Then I realised it was a dragon… hula hooping. It was a surprising scene. I made a list of who should be in the house, and there definitely wasn’t a dragon on it!

And the icing on top of the cake (or should that be doughnut?) during this session was that I got to see my thirteen-year-old cover illustrator’s youngest sister again. (Theo himself sadly didn’t get to accompany me on this visit, but he’ll be with me on some of my future Bristol visits.)

After lunch, it was time for me to visit each of the Year 4 classes. During the first of these workshops, the pupils made it extremely difficult for us to choose who to award certificates to. We ended up deciding that everyone deserved one… but there were a couple of pieces of work that really stood out for me:

Harriet’s story entitled How to Train Your Dragon to Do Your Homework was really beautifully written:

As was Layla’s story written under the title Sorry, Sir, but a Dragon Ate My Homework:

The final Year 4 class also ended up wowing me so much that, once again, every pupil received a certificate.

With the end of the day fast approaching, I didn’t manage to get as many photos of the pupils’ work as I’d have liked to in the final session. But Kitty and Jessica’s rap about a nana who was eaten by a dragon was great fun:

And India’s story along the same theme was also very witty:

I know I’m not allowed to have favourite schools, but there’s no denying that Redmaids’ High now has a special place in my heart. It really was an absolute joy to spend the day there today. There was a real buzz in the air, and the pupils were all beaming from the start of the day to the finish. They and their teachers couldn’t have made me feel more at home, and I really hope to return with future books in the Words of WARNING collection in the not-too-distant future!