What a wonderful visit to St Mary's School - Great feedback!

On Monday I set off on my bike to St Mary’s School to meet fifty-six Year 6 pupils and their teachers who had read the first chapter of The Hidden Tales of Cambridge last week. Their feedback was so positive they had asked if I would be happy to read to them the next chapter and answer any questions they might have. My Hidden Tales co-founder, Sorrel May, came with me to observe how the children responded to the new chapters and take notes of their questions.

When I arrived, Mrs Cliff and Mrs McKay debriefed us on the previous week’s Hidden Tales workshops where their children had listened to the story, pored over one of Jenny Bell’s illustrations and tried to decipher Fiona Boyd’s new alphabet. We looked at the children’s worksheets and the quality of their work was outstanding. Their understanding of the story and the way they linked together the clues from the illustration was impressive and I was delighted that they were able to decipher some of the alphabet as well.

I hope they enjoyed the reading and the question and answer session as much as I did. Their questions were excellent and I was particularly impressed at how well they listened and worked together. It was a pleasure to spend time with such an intelligent and engaging group of young people.

I promised Mrs Cliff and Mrs McKay that I would keep them informed on progress and promised to read another chapter to the children when we are closer to publication.

With the Easter Holidays around the corner, let's see if some of the children go in search of more Hidden Tales around the local museums!

St Mary's pupils have found the Hidden

This week, Sarah Cliff, the Head of English at St Mary's School in Cambridge introduced Year 6 to the Hidden Tales of Cambridge. Through a series of classes the children met Arthur and Victoria and joined them on their first encounter with the Hidden.

The feedback has been so positive that Sarah has asked if I would come and do a reading to the whole year group on Monday morning, which I've agreed to do.

I'm looking forward to meeting the children and their teachers and hearing their questions and comments about the story and giving them a tantalising glimpse into the World of Secrets.

Pupils of Coton Primary School meet the Hidden

To be able to get some feedback on the book, Tom (Mr Wells) prepared 2 x 40 minute sessions designed around the following skills:

• Reading comprehension,  
• Creative writing 
• Problem solving
• IT skills (filling out an online questionnaire)

The  questionnaire gave some great insights and pointers. I can't wait to read ALL of them so I can incorporate the feedback into the book. Here are some of the comments so far:

"I love it"

"I liked that you had to find clues at the end of each chapter"

"I like the idea of the end of  each chapter you as the reader get to do something rather than continue reading"

"I really liked that it was based in Cambridge and in the Fitzwilliam museum"

"I loved that it was intense and a new style of story"

"I really liked how there were different clues and that you could find them out in the museum."

In the pupil's 'Golden Time' the children were given Jenny's concept sketch which included a riddle designed by Fiona to solve. The atmosphere was buzzing. They had  lots of fun and loved the activity.  I can’t wait to see their faces when they see Jenny’s finished illustrations including the real clues to solve the Hidden's secrets.

Feedback was unanimous: When can we read/hear the next chapter?
So to thank them for their help, I am planning a secret visit to the school so they can hear the next chapter read by the author himself.

An exciting afternoon in Coton Primary school

Today, Tom set off to Coton Primary School, a lovely school in a village just outside Cambridge. He read the first chapter of the Hidden to  a group of 9 to 11 year olds who listened intently with great excitement and curiosity.

Afterwards these 23 pupils were given questions to answer on little slips of paper:

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Tom told me that the workshop went really well, which was quite a relief. I am so lucky to have a son who is prepared to do this for me. Hopefully we can now conduct similar workshops at St Mary’s, The Perse and Trumpington Meadows over the coming weeks. 

Tom is introducing the Hidden to local schools

My son Tom, who is a primary school teacher, has just finished a year in Salamanca and has offered to spend a few weeks helping us run some reading workshops with some local schools.

Sorrel has spoken with Matthew, the Head of St Mary's Primary School, who wanted to take the opportunity in World Book Week to design some lessons around the book. Tom and Sarah, the Head of English, will meet each other on Tuesday 6th March to move the project forward.

Tom will run a similar workshop at Coton CE Primary school, a school he knows well as he taught there for 2 years.

By visiting these schools and working with the pupils we hope to get some feedback on how they engage with the book so we can plan our next steps. Fingers crossed that the story sparks their imagination and encourages them to go hunting for Hidden mysteries in Cambridge...