Thornton College


A new chapter in the story of children’s literature festivals


Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, Thornton College hosted the MK Schools Lit Fest in October, where primary and secondary schools from Milton Keynes and Northampton were invited to take part in an exciting day of author workshops. T ornton utilised its great facilities and hosted author


presentations in the Sports Hall and meet-the-author book signings in the Library. Jo Scott, Head of Careers, worked with the MK Lit Fest


Team and Waterstones to provide an experience available to all children in the local area. “We know that literary festivals host children’s authors,


but we wanted to provide an innovative event which meant that children were not dependent on parents to take them and the talks would be part of the school day,” said Jo. Leaflets were placed in local libraries and sent to


schools, leading to 16 schools signing up, with children ranging from four to 18 years old.


T e day blasted off with Steve Cole showcasing his new


book, Astrosaurs: Mission to Infi nity. Steve is a bestselling author of more than 200 books and has worked on fi ction titles for Doctor Who and the Young Bond series. His presentation was high energy and the Key Stage 1 children who attended absolutely loved it. All students had the opportunity to purchase the


books from Waterstones, signed and dedicated by the four authors involved. No one, however, went away empty handed as T ornton provided bookmarks, signed by the authors, for every student. Fran Broadbent, a teacher from Swallowfi eld School


said: “It was an absolutely fabulous day! Our children will remember it forever.” Nat Harrison presented her book, T e Girl who Raced


Round the World, and took Key Stage 2 children on a literary voyage inspired by Jules Verne’s classic Adventure Around the World in Eighty Days. Students were encouraged to think about what they might need to pack into a story telling suitcase.


ALL THINGS BUSINESS | 30


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