Magnus Church of England Academy year 7 students were visited by children’s author Tom Mitchell this week.
During the event, Tom shared his writing process and inspirations with students. He said, “I want to demonstrate that the students themselves can become writers. I often find they have preconceptions about what it means to be an author, and I hope my visit will allow them to see that authors are not just an academics locked away in a room writing endlessly. That they are just ordinary people who may like reading and writing, -but can also like football and other interests too.”
Tom’s new book is out in March and is called ‘How to stop the end of the world’.
“I might be an idealist,” said Tom, “but I genuinely think that there is no such thing as a child who doesn’t like reading, it’s just that they haven’t found the right book yet. There is a book out there that will inspire each of them, and as a teacher and an author, I have tried to be funny and entertaining in my books as a gateway for young people to feel confident about approaching other topics to read.
“I think it is amazing that Magnus give all of their Year 7 students a book for Christmas, and I have really enjoyed my visit. Not only returning to Nottinghamshire where I once taught in secondary school, but also hearing the questions from Magnus students which demonstrated how interested they are in the writing process.”
Student, Izzy Kirtley, Year 7, attended the talk and said, “I love reading and have done since primary school. It broadens your imagination and makes you more creative. So, Tom’s talk really interested me today, especially hearing about where he gets his ideas from. I would love to be a teacher or a writer one day. I think I would write fantasy books or maybe horror stories! I am also very happy about receiving the book which I think is a great idea, and I will definitely start reading that very soon!”
Heather Jackson (Magnus Learning Resource Centre Manager) said, “We were proud to be able to gift our Year 7 students a book again this Christmas and we hope it will encourage them to keep reading through their time here at Magnus.
“We gift a book to every Year 7 because we feel reading is such a vital part of a student’s progression during their time in school, and this falls in line with our vision which is to develop people of good character.”
This year’s book gift was, ‘When Things Went Wild’ by Tom Mitchell. Assistant Principal at Magnus, Sarah Harper said, “We were thrilled to have Tom join us for the event and to talk to Year 7 about his experiences as an author. At Magnus we value the impact reading can have on our students, it’s so important that they get the opportunity to hear from a published author, to understand what inspired them, see where that creativity stems from and where that creativity can lead.
“We are proud of the attitudes and behaviour of Year 7 throughout the event and very impressed with the questions they asked of Tom after his talk. Well done Year 7!”