Author Visit to Lower Meadow Primary School

On Tuesday and Wednesday I visited Lower Meadow school to work with the children for 2 days, reading stories and getting them writing and illustrating for themselves. 

On the first morning, I arrived really early, but it was a lovely day, so I sat in the sun in their wonderful courtyard, reading a book, with a selection of bunnies, a squirrel, mole and various other woodland creatures to keep me company. What a civilised way to start the day.

I noticed from this wall mural that another Sheffield artist, Pete McKee had been there before me...

It was a great luxury to have a whole day with KS1 then another day for KS2. We doubled up classes so I had lovely, long sessions and we worked in the hall both days, so we could really spread out and do massive drawings. I used the wall bars to set up a poster display (wooden gym benches really remind me of my own school days) and laid out lots of my books to create a really fun space:

The children did some smashing illustration work. KS2 got started on some stories too, using their artwork as inspiration. All the teachers were great and very keen to follow on and finish all the work. 

The Head is going to use work from the two days to create displays for the brand new library they are setting up. I am going back on July 8th to help with the official opening. As you can see, there are still some gaps on the shelves at the moment, but there are cupboards crammed with new books frantically being entered into the system. I did my bit too, by signing and drawing in copies of all my picture books, ready for the big day.

Thank you to everyone I met this week - I really enjoyed working with you all and am looking forward to coming back in a few weeks.