West Wales Children's Book Group

The West Wales group is the first member of the federation in Wales. We are committed to reaching families- parents, grandparents, carers and their children throughout west Wales.
We firmly believe that for both children and adults an enjoyable book related experience- be it listening to a good story, meeting a visiting author or illustrator, or discovering that they can write down a story they have made up- can provide a lasting feeling of enthusiasm for books and reading. Surely this is something we are all aiming for.

The West Wales Group will be holding meetings and organising events with the best children's authors and illustrators in the UK. Future times and venues will be announced here.

IN JULY 1999

On Wednesday 14 July 6.30-8.00pm there was an open meeting of the WWCBG,at The Bishop's Palace in St David's, Pembs. Our guest was Mr Philip Ardagh, the author of the new series of children's books called Get A Life.He conducted an animated talk about the making of nonfiction books for children with particular emphasis on the William the Conqueror book published this week. Described as"6ft7inches tall with an eccentric beard" Philip Ardagh is much in demand for his workshops,and we are lucky to have been able to persaude him to come to StDavids(although offers of icecream do seem to have played a great part in luring him to Pembrokeshire) . His next appearance will be at the Edinburough Festival. The event was generously sponsored by the St Davids City Council.

Sponsored by

There will be a charge of £3.00 on the door for non-members.

A cross-phase multi-agency committee was formed in September 1998 and met once a month to organise activities to encourage and celebrate reading and literacy. A number of county initiatives have resulted as well as many school-based projects. They are:
1. Families-of Schools welcomed the local librarian to
* share information about NYR projects
* forge closer links between schools/local libraries/school library service.
2. Seven anthologies have been produced, one from each 'Family' using work from all schools across all phases. Selected items from each were included in a County anthology in celebration of the NYR. A copy of each has been donated to all of Pembrokeshire's schools. A limited number are available to buy.
3. 'High Fliers' by Sian Lewis was commissioned and sponsored by the Director of Education, Gerson Davies, and was launched during the County's 'Reading Week' in June. Featuring Pembrokeshire, the novel focused on the 10-12 year age group and has sought to appeal particularly to boys. Several schools observed the stages of production, and were in discussion with the author as the project developed. A copy has subsequently been presented to very Year 6 and 7 pupil across the county.
4. The 'Western Telegraph', Pembrokeshire's weekly newspaper, was approached and has included a monthly article, featuring a local 'celebrity' talking about their reading habits, in recognition of the NYR.
5. For the National Poetry Day, schools were invited to nominate their favourite author, which was then used as the basis of a display in their local library.
6. The important part that parents play in the reading development of their children was identified. In response:
* advisory teacher Mr Chris Stephens led INSET for schools on strategies to help parents help their children
* the Welsh language literacy team produced a leaflet on 'helping your child to read'. Several already exist in English.
7. To highlight the importance of 'reading for life' local businesses were involved in joint projects. Many firms have also given individual sponsorship to local schools. 'Somerfield' organised a 'Book Cover' competition for all schools in the Tenby 'Family', donating generous prizes to four age categories. The co-operative group, 'Pioneer', is.involved in organising a history/literacy project involving schools and local libraries for next year.
8. The 'Reading Challenge', a collaboration between local and school librarians, was introduced at Greenhill School in Tenby. It eventually extended to almost all the primary and secondary schools in Pembrokeshire. Children received log-books, which were available in both Welsh and English, and were challenged to read ten books, form different categories. At various prize-giving ceremonies at the secondary schools, certificates and prizes were awarded to successful challengers. A huge success, it is hoped to organise a similar 'reading scheme' each year for Years 6-9. The 1999-2000 scheme has already been named 'The Pembrokeshire Reading Olympics'.
9. Visits by authors, poets, illustrators and storytellers have been arranged by many individual schools, and by some 'Families of Schools'. The 'NYR Working Party' has also arranged visitors for schools and an evening presentation at Haverfordwest Library, featuring Berlie Doherty and Alan Brown.
I0. On World Book Day, the local press featured books and reading, whilst many events and activities occurred throughout Pembrokeshire's schools. Many, such as Greenhill School, Tenby, organised a reading 15 minutes, when at an allocated time, everybody dropped what they were doing and read quietly.