Children in KS2 met SF Said today as part of Book Week.  It was a privilege to welcome yet another esteemed author to Brecknock after our wonderful visit from Jessica Souhami yesterday.

SF Said talked to the children about how hard he had to work to be an author; the only job he ever really wanted.  He was rejected 90 times before a publisher agreed to publish ‘Varjak Paw’. It took 17 redrafts, and five years!  The rewards were staggering though! ‘Varjak Paw’ won the ‘Smarties’ prize – where people voted for ‘Varjak’ as their favourite book of the year (not an endless supply of smarties for SF)!  It also won the Blue Peter award!

At the end of the assembly, Year 4 children presented SF with books containing all the work they have been inspired to do after reading ‘Varjak Paw’.  He was really happy with it and was very grateful for the time and effort children had put into it – well done Year 4!

SF Said’s talk about perseverance linked so well with Mike Mullen’s visit about ‘being the best you can be’.  What these two successful people have in common is clear, and that is an unwavering determination, a persevering character, and simply never giving up on their dreams…There is no reason why children cannot achieve their dreams if they work hard and believe in themselves!

Sadly, we say goodbye to Book Week tomorrow, but not before dressing up as our favourite heroes and villains!

Who will YOU be?