Author visit
On Wednesday 19th June we were lucky enough to secure a visit from the author, Steve Skidmore. Steve is a successful British author, having written and published over 240 books with his writing partner, Steve Barlow. He travels the world visiting schools and libraries and spends over 100 days a year delivering talks and writing workshops to schools, universities, colleges, The British Council, The Reading Agency, to mention just a few. He is also the Patron of Reading for Leicester and is a qualified English, Drama and Media teacher.
Steve has visited us before so we knew that students were all in for a treat. Throughout the day we held 2 sessions (with performances) on Romeo & Juliet with Year 8 students, and one for Year 7 students.
A select group of students were chosen from Year 9 for ‘Lunch with the Author’ which was followed up by a ‘Writing Masterclass’ for 15 Year 7 students in the afternoon.
It was wonderful to see our students so engaged in Shakespeare! It was lots of fun with students participating in the performances but, most of all, it was highly memorable. I am certain that these students will remember this when writing about Romeo & Juliet for their GCSEs. With lots of key tips on imagery in the story they were taught how to include the scenery in analysis, not just the quotes. It was absolutely absorbing and everyone involved had a wonderful experience.
