Author visits create a lasting impression on students. They build relationships between children and the written word, inspire them to pursue creative endeavours, and connect lessons learnt in the classroom with the wider world. Here at RPA we believe that bringing an author into school to speak to our students is imperative to support reading for pleasure, further enhance reading and writing  within the curriculum and spark creative minds. 

Fay Evans - Wednesday 15th March 2023 

Author Fay Evans came into school on Wednesday 15th March for a day of interactive story telling. She held an assembly for KS2 to inspire our future authors as well as completing a Q&A. For EYFS and KS1, Fay held workshops to encage pupils into her story, 'Dave the Whale'. 

Madison Rowley - 16th October 2022 

Maddison, from Rushden, is an upcoming author and illustrator who created her very first picture book, ‘Ziggy the Zebra’, during lockdown. Since then, ‘Ziggy’ is now an official fictional character since the book has been published and is a firm favourite in books stores such as Waterstones and Magazine Heaven.  

Madison came into school on Wednesday 16th October to complete workshops with our children from YR to Y6. Madison gave a detailed career talk to our KS2 pupils about her choices at school and university, and explained how she developed her love for drawing into a real life job. Meanwhile, pupils in KS1 enjoyed Maddie coming into their class to hear her story 'Ziggy the Zebra'. 

After Maddie's visit to RPA pupils were inspired by her drawing skills and career talk that they wanted to try out being an illustrator themselves. Please see below examples of characters some of our KS2 pupils have designed.