Last week I went to the official opening of a new school in Bow, just down the road. It had been open just 30 days. Here's a sketch I did of some of the 5 year-olds lining to tell a big audience of parents and partners why they liked their new school.
On the left is Helen O'Donoghue, a warm, wonderful headmistress, who returned to found this school in London after years working in International schools abroad. This school is free - parents don't pay. And yet it is as international as East London.
Here I am a week later making and drawing Mini Books with them - a 6 page folding book with no staples, made from a single sheet of paper - thanks to a clever slit in the middle (note - must upload this on my next activities page!)
I was the school's very first author to visit for their very first Book Week. Here's a table at one of the 3 classes I made books with - the oldest class of 5 year-olds.
I also showed them this photo.
I'm not sure they all believed that this little 4 year old girl below with her nose in a picture book was me.
I ended by reading Hush, hush! from my illustrations on the big screen. How I wish I could have taken a picture of the little boy who after all the others had got up, was left sitting in the middle of the room, eyes closed, face turned up in a blissful doze. Now that's a bedtime story that really works!
A big thanks to CWISL for putting me in touch with this exciting local school!
