EVERY year the schools within the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership (DASP) run their own literary festival to ensure as many students as possible have the opportunity to hear an author or illustrator speak.

A report released by the National Literacy Trust in June, which looked at the impact of author visits on young people’s literacy engagement, revealed that there is a lot of evidence showing that visits like these increase reading and writing enjoyment and confidence.

On Friday, July 5 nearly 200 students from 16 schools in Dorchester sat together at Thomas Hardye School amongst desert island scene setters, suitcases and palm trees, as this year’s festival theme was ‘Travel and Adventure.’

The main guest at the festival was author Steve Skidmore, who entertained the students with stories from his own books, and audience participation.

In the morning, students were given the opportunity to come together and inspire each other with an aspect of literature they had embraced.

After a refreshment break the pupils then enjoyed a creative drawing session with illustrator and teaching assistant at Thomas Hardye School, Mark Farmer.

At the end of the day, an awards ceremony saw 14 pupils from various schools rewarded for their work in a range of literacy competitions, which had been run throughout the year. Prizes were given for the 500 words competition, illustrated travel blog and poetry, to name just a few.

There have been a number of literary events for local pupils throughout the year including talks from Laura James and local illustrator Lucy Volpin, who spoke to 450 Year 2 students, as well as a visit from Martin Brown, the illustrator from Horrible Histories who inspired middle school students to get creative.

Students from Year 9 at Thomas Hardye School and the Studio School were also able to listen to bestselling author Damien Lewis in January.

The festival was a fantastic way to end a successful year of literacy for all the schools and it highlighted the impact that reading for pleasure can have on a student’s achievements.