Kim Slater visited the Learning Lounge Wednesday 6th July 2016

A 'herculean' thank you to staff and students who supported this momentous event. (Learning Lounge - 08/07/2016)

Kim Slater visited the Learning Lounge on Wednesday 6th July during Period 5 (Lunch-time). She gave a small talk about how and why she became an author, and spoke about her two books SMART and A SEVEN LETTER WORD.   The Toot Hill Press Team - Frankie Berry, Yasmin Deach and Isobel Beech - asked Kim some thoughtful questions, and other students joined in asking questions too.  To finish, Kim signed copies of her books that students had purchased prior to the event.

Also, we invited Dawn Woodward (Eleanor Woodward Year 7 - mum) as she was the parent who got the 'ball rolling' with regards to the whole Kim Slater Story:

The Learning Lounge Kim Slater Timeline

February 2016 

• Phone call from Dawn Woodward regarding concerns for daughter Ella Woodward (Year 7) and reading.  Had been on the Toot Hill Website looking at Learning Lounge News and noticed BookTrust Challenges.
• Discussed with Lynne Litherland suitable book, mentioned that Ella should take a copy of SMART which was the LL Book Trust Challenge for February (read and answer 10 questions).
• Dawn also added the book on her Kindle and read too.
• Ella was the 6th and final student to complete the challenge.
• Dawn contacted Kim Slater to say how much she enjoyed the book and that it had been recommended by Lynne Litherland from the Learning Lounge at Toot Hill School.
• Kim sent personal postcards to Lynne, Dawn and Ella and further postcards to give to students. (12/2/16).

March 2016

• Claire Marris contacted Kim to let her know she would be the Learning Lounge Author of the Month for April and that she and Lynne were coming to the book Launch of A SEVEN LETTER WORD.
• 23/3/16 – Literacy Legends Spring Waterstones Trip; found out the book launch was a ticketed event, but we didn’t have a ticket and sold out!
• Contacted Kim and Events Manager at Waterstones and explained the problem, and Kim wrote back that evening and invited us personally as guests.
• 24/3/16 – Attended book launch at Waterstones, introduced ourselves to Kim Slater and had our personal copies signed – lovely evening!

April 2016

• Kim Slater was the Learning Lounge Author of the Month.  Promoted her two books with the students.
• As Scrabble is featured in A SEVEN LETTER WORD we decided to launch Scrabble Challenge in the Learning Lounge for students to play at break-time - all helping to Promote Kim’s books, gain scrabble skills and school credits.
• Sent pictures of display and Scrabble Challenge to Kim and she added them to her Blog on her Website.
• Found out that APEX, the Year 12 Enterprise team at Toot Hill had been making Scrabble Tile Key Rings and Pictures, so we started promoting them as well.  (Scrabble Theme)
• Kim contacted us about coming to visit, and made arrangements for July 6th 2016.