Reading Rocks at Wellacre

Posted at 10:31 am on 28th January, 2020

Students Welcome Author Stuart Reid

Award-winning children’s author of the Gorgeous George series, Stuart Reid, visited Wellacre on 21st January 2020 to engage and inspire Year 7 students with fantastically fun writing workshops. 

Author Stuart Reid said:

“Through my Reading Rocks and writing workshops, my aim is to unlock childrens’ imaginations and provide them with the skills to visualise stories in their heads.  Reading books and writing stories can take them wherever they want to go!”

Stuart first captured the Year 7 students’ imaginations with the story of how he started writing about the things that made him laugh and which inspired his characters, including snot-nosed zombies.  He began lively discussions about the hobbies and experiences of students to encourage them to transform these into stories about the things they love!

Year 7 student, Zane, said:

“The best bit of advice from Stuart was that ideas can come from absolutely anywhere!  He made me feel more confident in my story writing and encouraged me to read more.”

Fellow Year 7 student, William, added:

“I found Stuart really helpful; I like to write stories and he gave me lots of new ideas on how to open them.  He was so imaginative, his ideas were bursting out, and I think he made me more imaginative too!”

Taking inspiration from the literary world and stories seen in television, film and video games, Stuart examined story formats and developing genres for interesting ideas such as a rom-zom-com (romance, zombies and comedy), as well as plotting storylines and creating compelling characters, powerful openers and strong descriptives. 

Mr Magdzinski, Leader of KS3 English, said:

“Our Year 7s really responded to the Reading Rocks session with Stuart; he delivered a series of thought-provoking, interactive and inspirational writing workshops, which will help our students to develop new ideas and express themselves through their writing.  We are looking forward to seeing the students put what they have learned into action!”

Stuart Reid has performed at schools, libraries and book festivals with his book event ‘Reading Rocks.’  He has visited over 2,000 schools since 2011, throughout Britain, Ireland, India, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong and Australia. 

He won the Forward National Silver Seal in 2012 for his debut novel ‘Gorgeous George and the Giant Geriatric Generator’ and the Wishing Shelf Book Awards Silver medal for his 7th novel ‘Gorgeous George and the Timewarp Trouser Trumpets.’  He has also been presented with an Enterprise in Education Champion Award from Falkirk Council.