Book a local author to visit your school

Chesterfield - Dronfield - Sheffield - Rotherham - Doncaster - Hope Valley

It is a privilege and a joy to share our stories with children in schools.

We adhere to the recommended guidelines by the faith leaders of Sheffield and NATRE. Your visiting local author, Joanne Gilchrist, has completed the appropriate safeguarding training and holds an up to date enhanced DBS which she will bring on her first visit or email beforehand.

Our Guidelines for Working with Schools

The best age for our resources is Reception - Y3 for lessons and in our experience, all-age collective worship works well too.

  • "Your books seem to answer the same questions that children ask me. They also encourage them to wonder about the nature of God."

    Jenny Hosker, primary school chaplain

  • "We've just had an assembly with Joanne. It's been a fab afternoon, lots of enthusiasm and lots of questions. We hope we will get her back!"

    Rev. Derek Pamment, St Johns Wadworth

  • "I bought a set of books for myself as I can't tell you how many times kids have asked me 'Why can't I see God?' and I would like to know how to answer."

    Mrs Cave, Wadworth Primary School

  • "The books and badges are very good value and an excellent resource. I am so happy I found you!"

    Jenny Hosker, primary school chaplain

  • "It's such a gift to be able to explain something so deep and complex in a way that children can understand. I read 'Where Does God Live?' in a village primary school and it went down really well!"

    Wendy Bunting, Primary School Chaplain

What to expect from your local author visit

Collective Worship

One visit from our author, Joanne Gilchrist, is free for schools in Chesterfield, Dronfield, Sheffield, Rotherham and places in-between, provided we have the opportunity to run a bookshop for parents after school or give each child an order form to take home.

We have lots of experience leading collective worship in both faith and state schools.

This is the usual format:

  1. First, I (Joanne) introduce myself and encourage children to in their own writing, drawing and maths (for coding) skills. I talk about how people use their skills to communicate things that are important to them and how I use these skills to share how my Christian faith is important to me.

  2. I read one of my books - I make it quite interactive, stopping at the end of verses to see if they can guess the rhyming word, which they usually do. I might throw in a few actions and sound effects for them to join in with. At the end of each book there is a prayer, which, if part of collective worship, I use for a moment of quiet reflection. 

  3. I bring a USB stick with images to show the book pages on a big screen so everyone can see.

  4. Then I finish by taking questions, if there's still time. Usually there are lots of questions!

  5. I give out 2-3 small gifts to ‘good listeners’ as an incentive to pay attention. A gift is either a badge or colouring book.

  6. With permission I give each child a colouring book from our sponsor, SunScool (which is full of pictures of Bible stories for them to colour) and a flyer for God for Kids app.

  7. In order to cover costs, I ask to either run an after school bookshop (indoors or outdoors, both work well) or if this really wouldn’t work in your schools, I ask to give order forms out to each child.

Writing Workshop

Writing on Purpose

This is a 60 or 90 minute workshop focussing on writing skills including

unlocking imagination, playing with words, storyboarding and/or rhyming (pick one for 60 minutes or both for the 90 minute workshop)

A suggested donation of £60 will include a set of 4 books for your school

R.E. Workshop

Writing Our Prayers / Asking Big Questions

Your local author will reply to your email to book a date that works for you

This workshop has a focus on writing as a way to express our thoughts about God, Jesus, Faith, the Bible, Prayer etc.

We can tailor our workshop to fit your RE curriculum

60 minutes

A suggested donation of £60 will include a set of 4 books for your school

Chaplaincy Package

If you are a school chaplain, we invite you to use our resources for your school visits. For just £45 we will give you

30 minute zoom call

One set of 4 books

Powerpoint or PDF of images to use on a big screen

2 x colouring books or Ru Badges to give away

10% discount on any other items in our shop

Let’s work together