The Northampton Town FC Community Trust were delighted to host their first ever club author day at Sixfields Stadium. Supported by the Premier League Foundation and the National Literacy Trust the Community Trust hosted nearly 100 children from 3 different schools.
The morning was split into 3 different sections a tour and history of the stadium, a creative writing sessions where children learnt how to write a match report and a session on Sunday Times bestselling author of the Jamie Johnson books, Dan Freedman. The sessions were also attended by the Mayor of Northampton, Cllr Jane Birch and Cllr Pauline Goodley. Cllr Pauline Goodley said:
‘I thought that it was very well organised. The children obviously were loving it. It was excellent the way they were having fun but also were expected to achieve some serious academic work of their own. The two Club teachers that I observed were very good indeed ,and they kept the children on task and listening properly, along with periods of chatter and excitement and the tour of the stadium.’
After their morning sessions the children were surprised by an appearance of Dan Freedman himself. Dan led a workshop with all the children, answered their excellent questions and signed a copy of one of his books for each of them. Dan said:
‘It was an absolute privilege to visit Northampton Town Community Trust to help celebrate the joys of reading and writing with the pupils from the local schools. It was such a positive experience. I thought the session went really well and it was very impactful to see how many pupils wanted to ask a question! They were a great combination of enthusiastic, interactive as well as being very polite and listening well. They represented the school fantastically in what was a wonderful setting at Sixfields Stadium.’
Overall it was an incredibly fun, informative and engaging day, with Ruth Ryan, the head of Chiltern saying: ‘The children thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did the adults.
Everyone said how well organised, inspiring, and fun it was. I’ve been telling everyone how amazing you are!’
Our head of schools programme, Lorna Stockwell was delighted with how the day turned out:
‘It was amazing to hold the first ever club author day at the stadium. Seeing so many children who wouldn’t necessarily pick up a book, engaged with Dan and the workshops that our staff put on. Many of them were saying that they would start to read their book on the coach on the way home, hopefully the day has inspired them to read more.’
For more information about our schools programmes please contact lorna.stockwell@ntfc.co.uk