I have just been updating my calendar for March and as ever my schedule is bonkers. I have been visiting Bishops Park School in Paderborn, Germany for the past three years to work with the children of service families.
It has always been a real highlight and privilege to spend time with the military community and I have always been made to feel very welcome by the staff and children.
For instance, the school day starts and ends earlier than a British school day so having reached my hotel bed at midnight I am in front of the children at what feels like 7. The school has been really supportive and I have been able to do some crazy and ambitious stuff with the children. A lot of what I do is about access and exposure to high quality performance and storytelling. It always pleasing to be able to share a story or run a project with a small school but to work with a group of children so far from home who might not otherwise have such an experience is wonderful and I feel that I am a better storyteller and person for having had the opportunity.
The MoD previously announced that Germany is to close in and that service families were to return home or be redeployed around the world. Would I like to carry on going back? Of course but then, you know, there are schools in other parts of the world too… how does The Enormous Crocodile in The Falkland Islands, Shakespeare in Cyprus or Greek Mythology in Brunei sound to you, because to me it sounds amazing!! If you looking to book a storyteller for an overseas school or festival or for work with international students in here the UK, contact me.
Space is not new territory for the Summer Reading Challenge. Many moons ago I worked with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to devise a piece about reading in a year when the theme was to do with a Space Hop. Back then I mainly worked in east London and west London seemed a million light years away. I am pleased to announce another brand new storytelling presentation developed with the kind permission of Walker Books and in collaboration with poet, author and eater of cake, Dom Conlon.
