Young pupils learn from children’s writer

During the morning a small selection of schools spent time in workshops with our English and history departments, as well as a session looking at the links between the two subjects and posing the question, in a light-hearted debate, whether one was better than the other.

After lunch more schools joined us and Caroline, who writes historical mysteries for children, gave a fascinating and inspirational talk, sharing her own tips for the aspiring writers in the audience. She also vividly brought to life the ancient world in which her Roman Mysteries series is set with insights into daily Roman life, including a description of the latrines and the sponge used there, which was greeted with glee by some and horrified disgust by others!

While she was here Caroline judged our short story competition in which many of the visiting schools had taken part. We received some fantastic entries and the quality of writing was incredible. Huge congratulations to the three winners.

At the end of the day everyone had the chance to meet Caroline and get their books signed before heading home. One group of pupils told us how they were excitedly looking forward to being able to put Caroline’s tips into practice with their own writing back at school

We would like to thank Caroline for a truly amazing afternoon and hope all the pupils and teachers involved left us inspired with ideas for their own stories.