I did a several of the visits on my own this time as Alex was on tour with his band, The Severed Limb (I rather enjoy the fact that this benign and gentle children's book illustrator is in such a gruesomely-titled group)
Monday: A Possum's Tail in Portobello...
Our visit to Chepstow Place School, near Portobello Road W11 was a joyful event! We had been a bit nervous about reading/drawing for an entire school assembly - but as it turned out, not only were the children beautifully behaved, but there were only 70 kids at most.
This is a very young school (it was only started 5 years ago as part of the 'Alpha Group' of schools) but so sunshine-filled with happy kids that we feel sure it will fly!
Tuesday: London Calls in Brixton...
Off to the 'world-famous' Corpus Christi Primary School, in Brixton, SW2. No Alex this time, so I ran the two workshop/reading/activity sessions for the Year 3s myself. The kids were (as CC kids always are) utterly fabulous! They particularly enjoyed filling the Magic London Bus with fantastic characters (including the Queen, Princess Kate and baby George in one - a very 'royal' bus - and characters that included an alien, ghost and 'carrot' in the other…that carrot sure gets around…you just need to mention him and someone draws him in.)
What was really gratifying was that the CC children had recently visited Tate Britain and seen one of the paintings featured in London Calls! (Ophelia by Millais) so knew all about Shakespeare already…
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| Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais |
We visited The Cavendish School in Camden Town, NW1 and continued our run of light-filled, joyful schools packed with happy, engaged children and welcoming teachers. This time I set forth to entertain the whole of nursery and reception without the help of Alex and his mesmerising drawing, sartorial quirks and twinkling demeanour…It was quite a relief when he arrived to run the year 2 sessions with me…and had brought his accordion. The rest is history!
Thursday:
(A day off)
Finally Friday: London Calls in Swiss Cottage...
At The Hall Junior school in Swiss Cottage, NW3. Some super-bright kids here, so a bit nerve-wracking when you know that they know more than you…well, about some things, like maths. And possibly historical facts. And maybe more stuff…but they were great and drew some wonderfully imaginative (with a hint of 'Minecraft') characters on their Magic Buses! I particularly enjoyed the range of 'Horizontals' (being blob-like creatures that looked like giant amoeba) and the boy who knew all about Pearlies!
Thank you thank you, you fantastic kids - we love our school visits and have never been disappointed/unnerved/attacked by an angry mob yet.
Never say never, of course…
xxx
