{"id":29,"date":"2021-03-12T12:59:25","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T12:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacknbluepress.info\/?page_id=29"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:33:18","slug":"visit2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/blacknbluepress.info\/index.php\/visit2\/","title":{"rendered":"visit2"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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School visits<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Teachers have the biggest impact on children’s reading and writing.\u00a0<\/p>

Author visits can however provide a useful boost to a school’s literary strategy.<\/p>

Contact me on:<\/em><\/p>

wickedtales@hotmail.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I love visiting schools. It’s great to see the children totally immersed in my stories, and then – even better – to hear them coming up with so many ideas of their own.\u00a0<\/p>

I have one major aim for all visits: the children should feel more excited about reading and writing after I’ve visited.<\/p>

In my busiest year, I visited 26 primary schools, presented to 5,700 children aged 7-12 (and another 1,000+ younger children) and signed 4,500 books.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Here’s what schools are saying:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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“Children who disliked reading are now reading during playtimes, lunchtimes and registration time! I recommend that every school should experience a visit from this exceptional author.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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“Booking Ed Wicke to come to our school during book week was one of the best decisions I have made as English Coordinator.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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“Ed is a consummate story teller and his lively, madcap stories have universal appeal. Since his visit, I have had lots of positive feedback from staff, parents and pupils.\u00a0 I would thoroughly recommend Ed to a primary school looking for a visiting author.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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(Full references available to all enquirers)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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How I like to start a visit<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Over twenty years, I’ve found that what works best is to bring together all Key Stage Two students (or as many as will fit into a hall!).\u00a0 I prefer to spend around 60-70 minutes with them, in an exciting, interactive mixture of stories and ideas about reading and writing.\u00a0 I have often presented to over 200 students at once.<\/p>

I usually have similar sessions of 45 minutes for Key Stage One and 20 minutes for Early Years.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What happens next<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I can do whatever the teachers want!\u00a0 I even have some Lesson Plans for teachers to use.<\/p>

I often run sessions on writing stories, either using themes the school is working with or providing my own themes.\u00a0 I have image-rich powerpoint presentations about how I work with illustrations and illustrators. Or we can just have 30 minutes of fun in the classroom making up stories together and discussing what works.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Who I work with<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I’m comfortable working with groups of any size.\u00a0<\/p>

I write mainly for Key Stage Two and my follow-up work is best suited to that age group.<\/p>

I like working with all kinds of students but I take greatest delight in engaging reluctant readers and writers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Cost of a visit<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I try to keep fees to a minimum, because (as an ex-teacher and school governor) I want schools to spend their literacy budgets on books, not authors.<\/p>

I find that I am able to sell enough books to cover most of the fees recommended by literary organisations – even in deprived areas.\u00a0Therefore <\/span>I don’t normally charge a fee within an hour’s travel<\/b><\/span>, unless the school is very small.<\/span><\/p>

Where I do charge fees, I try to keep them reasonable and I always agree them in advance.\u00a0If you’re two hours away, I might charge you between \u00a3100 and \u00a3150 for a full day’s visit – and I would provide some free books for the library within that price.<\/span><\/p>

For free visits, I encourage schools to purchase a small number of my books (at \u00a35 a book) for their libraries: this ensures that the children from poorest homes will have access to my books too. Schools tell me that the Wicked Tales books are almost constantly checked out!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Signing books<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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These low fees depend on schools making appropriate arrangements, including:<\/p>