Adventuremice on Budleigh Salterton Lit Fest schools tour
For the last two days, my co-author Philip Reeve and I have been visiting four different schools, in the Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth areas, as a schools outreach programme for Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival. The days were action-packed! The first day was UK Election Day, so Philip and I were at the polling stations as soon as they opened, then we whizzed off to Marpool Primary School for the first visit.
Here we are with the enthusiastic Assistant Head, Jemma Poulsom, and our Budleigh Lit Fest companion, David Marston, who made sure the whole visit went smoothly.
Sometimes you just know straight away, when you arrive at a school, that it's going to be a terrific visit, and this was one of those schools; it turned out two of the years had been studying Oliver and the Seawigs and had even created their own books of poetry inspired by its Rambling Isles!
The children were thrilled to meet the authors whose books they'd been reading, and we were equally chuffed to see their characterful drawings and read some of their poems!
Some of the islands had terrific details:
After coffee overlooking Exmouth Beach, our next stop was the Deaf Academy, where Joanna Fison took us on a tour and explained to us some of the ways the school is leading the way in the UK for being a welcoming and inspiring place for children and teens, including those with more complex needs. Here we are with David, Joanna, and the academy's principal, Sylvan Dewing:
They have a wider vision of turning Exmouth into a place that's particularly known for being deaf-friendly for people of all ages, a place to gather, go on holiday, etc, and Joanna explained how it's already happening, with the local shopkeepers, for example, who are knowledgable and on-board. She talked about how it can mean so much to people who don't have anyone to communicate with, isolated but then suddenly finding themselves in a sign-language haven where they can understand all the conversations going on around them.
We talked about our books, but for the children, the DRAWING was such a key element, they really loved that. And it pleased Philip and me to see how drawing together can break down so many barriers to communication. This boy Blair really loves to draw, and it was great to see how the activity really lit a fire under him; after we drew space mice, he was off designing a whole second project by the end of the lesson. Big thanks to our two sign language interpreters, who valiently took on our very interactive and multi-focus events!
After the two visits, we were able to walk along Budleigh beach in the late afternoon and see the lovely rows of beach huts, beautiful smooth stones, and go on a walk around the wetlands in the newly-developed Lower Otter Restoration Project.
The new day we went to Littleham Church of England Primary School by Exmouth, where Joanne Poslett hosted our visit.
We had a lot of fun plotting a space-themed story in gameboard format, and the kids came up with lots of great ideas!
Our final stop on the tour was St Peter's CofE Primary School in Budleigh Salterton, where Deputy Head (and Acting Head for the day) Lisa Broad moved mountains to accommodate three different schools in their assembly hall - Otterton and Drake's primaries. It was a stonking good visit, getting to meet so many excited children and, to be honest, we were so busy with signing books that we didn't get around to taking a single photo! But it was a terrific way to end our visits, and we hope to visit our tour bookseller Winstone's in Sidmouth soon to sign some more books for the children who wanted multiple books.
Edit: Photos! Big thanks to St Peter's for posting these on X for us to see!
Big thanks to organiser Annie Ashworth, and David who was good fun and looked after us so well for the two days. And to Winstone's and everyone at all four schools who made us feel so welcome! If you're local to the area, do check out the schedule for Budleigh Salterton Lit Fest, 18-22 September, which is certain to have a brilliant selection of book events. (Tickets go on sale on July 22nd.) And, of course, if you enjoyed the school visits and want more Adventuremice-themed free activities, check out Adventuremice.com!
Here we are with the enthusiastic Assistant Head, Jemma Poulsom, and our Budleigh Lit Fest companion, David Marston, who made sure the whole visit went smoothly.
Sometimes you just know straight away, when you arrive at a school, that it's going to be a terrific visit, and this was one of those schools; it turned out two of the years had been studying Oliver and the Seawigs and had even created their own books of poetry inspired by its Rambling Isles!
The children were thrilled to meet the authors whose books they'd been reading, and we were equally chuffed to see their characterful drawings and read some of their poems!
Some of the islands had terrific details:
After coffee overlooking Exmouth Beach, our next stop was the Deaf Academy, where Joanna Fison took us on a tour and explained to us some of the ways the school is leading the way in the UK for being a welcoming and inspiring place for children and teens, including those with more complex needs. Here we are with David, Joanna, and the academy's principal, Sylvan Dewing:
They have a wider vision of turning Exmouth into a place that's particularly known for being deaf-friendly for people of all ages, a place to gather, go on holiday, etc, and Joanna explained how it's already happening, with the local shopkeepers, for example, who are knowledgable and on-board. She talked about how it can mean so much to people who don't have anyone to communicate with, isolated but then suddenly finding themselves in a sign-language haven where they can understand all the conversations going on around them.
We talked about our books, but for the children, the DRAWING was such a key element, they really loved that. And it pleased Philip and me to see how drawing together can break down so many barriers to communication. This boy Blair really loves to draw, and it was great to see how the activity really lit a fire under him; after we drew space mice, he was off designing a whole second project by the end of the lesson. Big thanks to our two sign language interpreters, who valiently took on our very interactive and multi-focus events!
After the two visits, we were able to walk along Budleigh beach in the late afternoon and see the lovely rows of beach huts, beautiful smooth stones, and go on a walk around the wetlands in the newly-developed Lower Otter Restoration Project.
The new day we went to Littleham Church of England Primary School by Exmouth, where Joanne Poslett hosted our visit.
We had a lot of fun plotting a space-themed story in gameboard format, and the kids came up with lots of great ideas!
Our final stop on the tour was St Peter's CofE Primary School in Budleigh Salterton, where Deputy Head (and Acting Head for the day) Lisa Broad moved mountains to accommodate three different schools in their assembly hall - Otterton and Drake's primaries. It was a stonking good visit, getting to meet so many excited children and, to be honest, we were so busy with signing books that we didn't get around to taking a single photo! But it was a terrific way to end our visits, and we hope to visit our tour bookseller Winstone's in Sidmouth soon to sign some more books for the children who wanted multiple books.
Edit: Photos! Big thanks to St Peter's for posting these on X for us to see!
Big thanks to organiser Annie Ashworth, and David who was good fun and looked after us so well for the two days. And to Winstone's and everyone at all four schools who made us feel so welcome! If you're local to the area, do check out the schedule for Budleigh Salterton Lit Fest, 18-22 September, which is certain to have a brilliant selection of book events. (Tickets go on sale on July 22nd.) And, of course, if you enjoyed the school visits and want more Adventuremice-themed free activities, check out Adventuremice.com!