St Francis Catholic and Church of England Primary Academy had the honour of hosting Major General Martin White CB CBE JP during their 2-day celebration of reading last week.
The school had previously been asked to take part in the Isle of Wight Literary Festival and the Lord Lieutenant, who is patron of the festival, visited to share the experience.
The events, which took place on 12th and 13th October, included a day to further engage the children’s enthusiasm for reading. Activities included book-related arts and crafts and a whole school ‘theatre in the round’ to share a love of the books they are currently reading, together with a St Francis family photo with their books.
This was followed on Friday by a visit from 6 authors – Alex Milway, Mo O’Hara, Sarah Holding, Jake Rodrigues, Kev Sutherland and Philip Bell – as part of the IOW Literary Festival. The children experienced a wide range of literacy-related events, including cartoon drawing, book illustration, character development, local history and story planning skills. The younger children were treated to a very enjoyable presentation of ‘The Cat in The Hat’.
St Francis was delighted to be able to share this special day with pupils from Wroxall Primary School and St Blasius Primary Academy.
The atmosphere in school on both days was animated and inspirational. To quote 2 of the children
“We had two great days and I enjoyed the authors and finding out what my friends are reading”.
“I had a very enjoyable day and learned a lot of new story planning skills from author Sarah Holding”.
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