Year 7 students had an amazing day in school on Wednesday of this week and could go home that evening and tell their families that they had been inspired by an author who had climbed the highest mountain in the world (many times!). With Mount Everest towering at 8849 metres, Matt Dickinson joined the students in the Main Hall for a very special assembly at the start of our enrichment day and shared some amazing images of his various climbs to the summit of the planet. He also talked about the real dangers on the way and engaged the enthusiastic audience by asking them to consider their approach to risk and whether they were ambitious and resilient enough to achieve their dreams. For him it all started in a school library in Hemel Hempstead when he picked a book off the shelf about the awesome mountain.

This inspired the Year 7 students to go off into classrooms across the school to develop their own writing skills – perhaps aiming to also publish a book in the future like Matt himself has done. Matt went round the classrooms, signing autographs and answering questions. He loved his visit to Bushey Meads and was very impressed with all the students he met. It made for a great day and one that many of us will remember for a long time to come.

A huge thank you goes to Mrs Turton, our hard working Learning Resource Centre (LRC) Manager who arranged the author visit, and continues to play a significant role in inspiring so many of our students to read avidly and write so eloquently. As students do continue to make the most of your reading lessons in the LRC and use all the resources on offer in this hub of our school.