Friday 17 February 2017

Ian Whybrow - Author Visit

Pupils from The Learning Federation were delighted to meet author Ian Whybrow this week. Best known for the Harry & His Bucketful of Dinosaurs series, Ian spoke to the children about his career as a writer and where he gets his ideas from.

'I thought Harry would have been his son, but Ian said he got the idea from a child he saw playing at the garden centre with a bucketful of dinosaurs. The name Harry comes from Prince Harry, who was a small boy then.'
James - aged 6


​During the workshop, Ian read the pupils some of the stories and poems from his other books. The pupils also heard about how Ian works with the illustrators to bring the characters to life.

'Books are a great way of starting a conversation with pupils, challenging their language and opening up the chances for unexpected links. In Ian's picture books there are lots of chances to develop positional language, description and extended sentences... as well as enjoy the pictures and sense of humour.'
Mrs L Smith - Headteacher


Broadford & Mead Primary have seen a significant improvement in the quality of their writing and the level of interest in the library since the program of author visits was established. The termly sessions with writers and illustrators has seen the pupils produce their own story compilation and win national recognition in writing competitions.