Creative kids book their date with top writer
A WRITE good time was had by all when a top author paid a visit to Brabyns Preparatory School.
Ruth Eastham arrived at the school as part of National Storytelling Week which ended on Saturday, January 4.
Ruth, whose debut novel The Memory Cage was shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize visited on Monday, January 30 to run some creative writing workshops with the children.
After thanking everyone at Brabyns for a fantastic day, Ruth said: “I was so impressed by the children’s creative writing.
“We journeyed through the Amazon rainforest in search of El Dorado and I heard marvellous memories inspired by objects that children in Years 5 and 6 brought from home.”
After her workshops, Ruth stayed to chat to the children and sign copies of her four books including Jaguar Trials, Arrowhead and Messenger Bird.
Headteacher Lee Sanders said: “At Brabyns, we are always looking for new ways to engage children in different areas of learning, so we were delighted to welcome Ruth into school to share her experiences as an author.”
He added: “All the children thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was a wonderful way to start
National Week.”
The visit was organised by Year 6 teacher and literacy co-ordinator Julie Lawford, who described the idea behind Ruth’s visit.
She said: “We wanted to inspire the children to write creatively.
“Having a real life’, award winning, published author sharing her inspiration and passion for the written word was an amazing experience for the children.”
She added: “All classes from Nursery to Year 6 were able to take part in a fantastic range of age appropriate creative writing workshops throughout the day. They now Storytelling know that they too can be one of the great authors of the future.”
For more information about Brabyns Preparatory School visit www.brabynsprepschool.co.uk For more information about National Storytelling Week visit the Society for Storytelling website which can be found at
www.sfs.org.uk/events/ national-storytellingweek-2
The purpose of the week among other things, is to encourage creativity.