School Visits
I am the author of many fantastic children’s stories, which have been sold worldwide and in a multitude of languages.
I enjoy visiting nursery, primary and secondary schools to help inspire students to create their own stories and explore their writing through a wide range of activities and workshops. I have over 17 years’ experience of working within primary schools and an excellent knowledge of the current National Curriculum.
To book me for a school visit please contact me direct through my Contact Me page. I am also available as a Patron of Reading.
Here are a few of the activities I can do in your school:
Nursery
I have a variety of books suitable for nursery and pre-school age children.
Click here to view some of the workshops I have done for this age-range
Praise for my Nursery workshops
Local author Anita Loughrey came into Pied Piper on Friday 13th March to read her book, Rabbit’s Spring Adventure. The children enjoyed listening to her tell the story and acting it out in small groups afterwards – it really reinforced our topic of Spring! The books are beautifully written with lovely illustrations with extra information on Spring and what to look out for. Similar books are also available for Summer, Autumn and Winter. I’m glad we bought the whole set! I would highly recommend these stories for early year’s children.
Mandy Cole. Pied Piper Pre-School
Key Stage One
There are lots of imaginative and fun workshops I can do at Key Stage One stimulated by my books and resources.
Click here to view some of the workshops I have done in Key Stage One
Praise for my Key Stage One workshops
We were lucky enough to have Anita Loughrey visit our school on 3rd October and I would thoroughly recommend her as a visiting author. She gave the children an interesting talk about the type of writing she does and how she goes about writing a new book or story. After this she carried out workshops with the children in KS1, encouraging them to tell stories and act out the books that she brought in. She was extremely well prepared with masks and other story telling equipment and was kind enough to make each child a little book to write in and a lovely bookmark, meaning every child had a memento of the day. Anita also took the time to sign her book for children who wished to buy one and talk to the children if they had questions. I would have no hesitation in recommending her to other schools and would definitely wish for her to revisit Spurcroft School.
Alison Moutrie, KS1 Team Leader, Spurcroft School
Key Stage Two
Using my books as inspiration, I can provide a whole wealth of workshop ideas for author visit with Key Stage Two.
Click here to view some of the workshops I have done at Key Stage Two
Praise for my Key Stage Two workshops
Anita Loughrey visited our school with her Plays for Primary School file. She inspired our Year 4 and 5’s to write some imaginative and hilarious plays, one of which we were able to perform for her at the end of the day assembly. I highly recommend Anita to do a school visit. She is both educational and entertaining.
Barbara Davis, KS2 Team Leader, Upcroft Primary School
Key Stage Three
I have done several school visits to secondary schools using my books as starting points for a wide range of fun writing activities.
Click here to view some of the workshops I have done at Key Stage Three
Praise for my Key Stage Three workshops
Anita’s visit to Mount Carmel Catholic College for girls was a fun packed, interactive workshop which included art, drama and ‘rapping’ believe it not! Anita Loughrey’s Star Stuck series is a must for striving readers. These books are packed full of facts relating to current areas of interest for teens such as hip hop, street style, stage make up and much, much more. The illustrations are amazing and bring the short stories alive. Students thoroughly enjoyed getting in to character and performing these exciting story lines to their peers.
Anita’s magazine spread activity went down particularly well wherein students shared their individual street style ideas through art and the bold use of animated fonts for catchy titles. Anita‘s gentle approach created a calm and easy going workshop space, encouraging students to share their colourful imaginings and express themselves vocally. I would definitely recommend Anita Loughrey’s Star Struck resource materials and her interactive literacy workshop visits to schools. Specifically, secondary schools wishing to promote reading for pleasure during timetabled intervention reading lessons.
Lorraine Collins, LRC Manager, Mount Carmel Catholic College for Girls
Mix and Match
If you see a workshop you like at a different age level and think it is exactly what you want to support ongoing project work, please ask. I am usually able to adapt a workshop to suit your needs and ability of your students, from Early Years through to KS1, KS2 and KS3. I can also visit your school in my VW Campervan (Peppermint), read my book and do the workshop outside if the weather is good.
Also take a look at my Teacher Resources books for more ideas of workshops I am able to do to support your school projects and special events and my Writing Workshops page for details of Writer in Residence opportunities.