PUPILS of Sacred Heart have been developing their love of reading with visits from author Dr Frank English.

The keen reading pupils have been given the opportunity to develop their writing and reading in a series of workshops.

In the workshop session children's writer Dr Frank told pupils of his experiences as an author and tips on how they can improve their writing skills before reading extracts to them from some of his own books.

Mr English said: "What an amazing day I had today, in this most exhilarating and truly wonderful primary school. The young people and staff gave me the warmest welcome I could have hoped for, and responded fantastically to everything I presented to them.

"To say there are a great many smart and attentive youngsters there is a huge understatement.

"The school is beautifully run, immaculately kept, the classrooms cleverly organised, the teachers and their helpers hugely hard-working, and the children the politest, sharpest and best behaved I have had the pleasure to spend time with.

"The emphasis is on supporting them to do their best, through developing a love of reading and writing, in all their forms."

School governor Ryan Devlin said: "Frank tailored his materials to suit each year group and we had a fantastic time.

"The work produced was amazing; Reception wrote a humorous alliterative poem, using all the names in their class.

"Some children focused on writing exciting story settings, whilst other children explored how to develop story characters which could be adapted to different types of stories.

"This has enthused the children to such an extent that Frank has received emails from children, asking him for his opinions and advice on their writing.

"Year 3 were so inspired that they wrote and developed their own characters and created a book which they then sent to Dr English as a gift.

"He then sent them two of his books to keep in their new class libraries.

"Sacred Heart writers are now buzzing, full of ideas and we are looking forward to Frank visiting us again in the near future."

To look at some of Mr English's work visit: http://www.frankenglish.co.uk/