Sunday 18 May 2014

School Visits: St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Rebecca England and all the fantastic Year 5s & 4s I met at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School last week!


It was a brilliant visit for me, because Year 4 were reading Varjak Paw, while Year 5 were reading Phoenix.  I saw some incredible work that they'd been doing: not only with my words, but also with Dave McKean's illustrations.


I'd like to thank you all for your fantastic questions and stories, and to wish you good luck with your reading, writing and art!  I know we didn't have enough time to answer all the questions, so if anyone has something they'd like to ask, or anything they'd like to say about the visit or the books, this is the place to do it!



38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you S.F. for a wonderfully inspiring afternoon, my class truly believe they can do anything now! I'm also having to curb their enthusiasm as so many of them have now raced ahead and finished reading Phoenix in record time, they just couldn't put it down, we now have a few spoiler alerts! They are also looking forward to writing reviews for the WeRead Book Award.
Thank you again,
Rebecca

Anonymous said...

Hi S.F. Said

This is Skye, from St Joseph Catolic primary school Greenwich.
I'm in year 5.
I like it when you came to my school last friday.
It was a real honour.
How is your new book tyger coming along?
I like phoenix because it is set on anothe moon in a far away galaxy.
From Skye!

Anonymous said...

Hey S.F,
how are you? I'm Angel and I loved it when you came to see us in year 5 at st joseph's primary catholic school. I loved all your ideas you shared with us. I loved your expression when reading phoenix. How is tyger coming along? Thank you for telling us how you became an author. We all felt sorry for you when the publishers ignored you. Thank you so much for putting photos of our work up. I feel happy and glad.
by Angel-lee xoxo

Anonymous said...

Dear S.F.Said Thank you for coming to my school, it's me Noah from year 5 thank you for letting me ask you a question. You gave me ideas about making a game. How is Tyger coming along? Thank you for signing my book for me.
Yours happiest Noah

Anonymous said...

Hi S.F.Said
Thank you kindly for your visit I absolutely loved it! You taught me lots of interesting tips that will help me pursue my palentology dreams.I loved your wacky and wonderful words and the fact that you made it sound almost real.when do you think tyger will be avalible to read and to buy from shops (waterstones). you are one of my favourite authors and I hope tyger is not your last book. No matter what people think i think your books are some of the coolest,wittiest,most andventurous books ever
best wishes
Scarlett E Milburn
Year 5

Anonymous said...

Dear S.F. SAID
This is Lady Jane I go to St Joseph's thank you for visiting St Joseph's and thank you for reading us pheonix and thank you for the advice on how to be an author and talking to us and answering our questions and helping us with our dreams and thank you you were great and I have so much fun and it was a pleasure to have met you
A big thank you for the book Phoenix, it is great and how is Tyger coming along? I hope that it will be more interesting than Phoenix!
Best wishes
Lady Jane
ady jane.

Anonymous said...


Hi S.F,
My name is David,I am in year 5 from the school you visited last week.
I would like to tell you that you inspired me to read different types of books, to explore all types of genre ,thank you so much.
from David year 5

Anonymous said...

Hi S.F. Said

You visited my class year 5 on Friday and all of us really enjoyed you coming over. Thank you so much for putting my drawing on your website,i really REALLY apriecate that. I will always remember the day you came in and talked to my class and brought a smile to everybody's face.

Best Wishes Cissyle

Anonymous said...

Hi S.F,

How are you?
I am Jennie from St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, you came in last Friday.
How is your new book Tyger coming along?

Thank you for visiting my class and sharing your amazing ideas with us. And thank you for giving us your great advice. I'm always going to keep on trying until I acheive what I want! Thank you for telling us about your life so far! Your cat is fabulous! I'm going to redraft, readraft and redraft my story, until I think is about right. I'm dying to find out what happens at the end of PhoenixI It's just an amazing book!

I can't wait for Tyger to come out! I'll never forget that day!

Best Wishes
Jennie

Anonymous said...

Hi S.F.

How are you? How is your new book Tyger coming along? My name is Samanda from year 5. I really enjoyed your visit on Friday afternoon. The part that I enjoyed the most was when you answered all our questions, the second part that I will ALWAYS remember is when you said to redraft and redraft my writing. Thank you for all your top-tips to become an author. (by the way I am the girl that said she couldn't do her hair but now i'm an expert at doing hair because I didn't give up) !!
Phoenix is the best book in the world because it's got so much adventure and secrets.
Best wishes on your new book Tyger.
From Samanda xx

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Said,
Thank you so much for attending S.T Joseph's. Everyone loved you visiting and we would love it if you could visit us again! I absolutely love to read because of your books, before when I used to read I started to think that it was so rubbish : reading so I wasn't so keen on it but when my class and i read your first book, Varjak Paw I thought that only that one book would be what I like but then you wrote The Outlaw Varjak Paw, Phoenix and now Tyger (which I am looking very forward to) and like I said... I now love reading!
Best Wishes Zarina, age 10 years, Year 5

Anonymous said...

Hey SF,
thank you so much for visiting our class. It was a dream come true to meet you. How's 'Tyger' coming along? I really hope your new book is a great success!
I also hope it doesn't get 40 NOs. I love the way you put a warm smile on everyone's face.
P.S: I'm the girl that wanted to open a charity for children.
Best wishes,
Rachelle, Year 5

Anonymous said...

Hey S.F
Thanks for your awesome visit to our class.
Your book Phoenix is amazing. Will there be a sequel?
Phoenix is romantic and dramatic.
Thank you for putting my vid screen on your blog!
I feel really happy.
I really enjoyed your visit.
Maria xox

Anonymous said...

Hello SF said
How are you? It's Isabella form year 5, at st Joseph's school.
You are such a clever man. Phoenix is a brillant book.I haven't read alot of it yet,
but i think your book isa very good book about aliens. Thank you for reading phoenix about lucky riding the sunfire and the aliens.I like the way you write .
vajak paw and the outlaw vajak paw the outlaw.

Anonymous said...

SF Said,
How are you? Hope you have a lovely weekend. This is lola popoola. one of year 5 student. we are realy enjoying PHOENIX. How about your new storybook called TYGER. Thank you for signing my book. I say a BIG THANK YOU. I like PHOENIX because it was set in space and there was aliens. That was the best story book ever.
kind regards. Lola

Anonymous said...

Hey SF,
Thank you for visiting us it was a great experience I don't want this to sound cheesy but I absolutetly LOVE Phoenix it is the best book I have ever read since reading My name Mina by David Almond, by the way my name is Suraby. I know I said I would like to become an actor... BUT and it's a big BUT ( like the one in Mr Gum ) I now would like to become an author.
Best wishes on writing Tyger, thank you for the advice. I will never give up!
Good Luck!
Suraby

Anonymous said...

Hi S.F

How are are you? This is Tegan from St.Joseph's Catholic Primary School. I am in year 5 . I didn't quite get a chance to ask this question but when you were younger ,did you want to be an author? I liked it when you said when you want to be something dont ever give up. Thank you for coming into our school last friday I will remember that you came into our school and inspired me to read and write more:]

Thank you for reading my comment.
Thank you coming into our school it was a pleasure.

From Tegan

Anonymous said...

Dear S.F
My name is Tyler I am from year 5, one of my highlights was when you asked us questions I really enjoyed your visit I liked it when you sighed our books. I hope Tyger is going well.
Best wishes Tyler

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Said,

I am Sarah and I am 10 years old. I am in year 5 and I would like to say thank you for your AMAZING vist to our school, St Joseph's R.C Primary School in Greenwich(Year 4 and 5) I am really enjoing reading your book Phoenix and I hope you enjoyed writing it too. I hope Tyger is just as good or hopefully better.

Kind regards, Sarah

SF Said said...

Dear Rebecca,

Thank you so much for that wonderful comment – and thank you again for organising such a brilliant visit! It really was a pleasure to see such enthusiasm for reading and books out there, and all the great work you'd been doing. Keep the Way alive!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Skye,

Thank you so much for your comment! It was a pleasure to visit your school – I really enjoyed meeting you all! TYGER is coming along well, I think. I'm nearly at the end of the 3rd draft, so there's still a long a way to go, but I'm enjoying it a lot, and I hope you will too one day!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Angel,

Thank you so much that lovely comment! It was a pleasure to visit, and an honour to put photos of your work up – I was really impressed and amazed by the work you'd been doing on Phoenix. It made the seven years of writing feel worthwhile!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Noah,

Thank you so much for your comment! It's exciting to hear about your game; good luck it, and I hope you keep going even if you have setbacks! Tyger is coming along well, I think; I'm nearly at the end of the 3rd draft, so still a way to go... but I hope that one day, if I persevere, it will be even better than Phoenix!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Scarlett,

Thank you so much for your fantastic comment, and good luck pursuing your paleontology dreams. Remember, it may be hard, but anything is possible if you persevere! It's impossible to say when TYGER will be in the shops; I'm still only on the 3rd draft, so definitely a while yet... I hope it won't be my last book either – I have ideas for at least 3 more after it. I hope you'll enjoy them too one day!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Lady Jane,

Thank you so much for your comment! It was a pleasure to visit St. Joseph's and to meet you all and hear about your dreams. Thank you for your kind words about Phoenix – I hope Tyger will be even better one day, but I've come to accept it might take a long time to make each book as good as it can possibly be... hopefully not seven years this time, though!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear David,

Thank you so much for your comment! And happy reading – I hope you enjoy discovering all kinds of different books out there!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Cissyle,

Thank you so much for that lovely comment, I really appreciate your kind words! And it was an honour to put your drawing on the site – I was really impressed and amazed at the brilliant work you'd been doing with Phoenix!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Jennie,

Thank you so much for that fantastic comment – it really means a lot to me! I'm so glad you're enjoying Phoenix, please let me know what you think when you get to the end! And good luck with your story, and all your dreams...

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Samanda,

Thank you so much for your lovely comment, I really appreciate it! It was a pleasure to visit St Joseph's and to hear all your questions and stories. I remember your story about doing your hair; that's definitely something to think about when you're working on writing! I hope you enjoy the rest of Phoenix, and I hope you'll read Tyger, when it's finally finished one day!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Zarina,

Thank you so much for that amazing comment – you can't imagine how much it means to a writer to hear things like that. I'm so glad that my books made a difference to you, and helped you to discover how much fun reading can be. Good luck with it, and with all your dreams!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Rachelle,

Thank you so much for your lovely comment! Tyger is coming along well, I think, but there's still a long way to go... I hope you'll enjoy it when it comes out. I remember your idea of opening a charity for children; I think that's a great idea. Good luck with it, and with all your dreams!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Maria,

Thank you so much for your lovely comment! It was a pleasure to visit your class, and it's an honour to have your vidscreen on my blog – I was really impressed at the brilliant work you'd been doing on Phoenix! I don't think there will be a sequel; but Tyger is also a kind of science fiction, so I hope you'll enjoy it too, one day...

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Isabella,

Thank you so much for your comment! It was a pleasure to visit your school and to meet you all. I'm really glad you're enjoying my books, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the Phoenix!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Lola,

Thank you so much for your lovely comment! And you're welcome – it was a pleasure to visit your school and meet you all. I'm so glad you're enjoying Phoenix; I love space and aliens myself, so it's brilliant to hear that you do too!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Suraby,

Thank you so much for that fantastic comment! I really appreciate it; I love David Almond too, so it's a real honour to be mentioned in the same sentence as him! Good luck with your acting, and your writing, and with all your dreams!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Tegan,

Thank you so much for your comment, it was a pleasure to visit your school and to meet you all! I think I always wanted to be an author, because I always loved stories myself. Good luck with your reading and writing, and with all your dreams!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Tyler,

Thank you very much for your comment! I really enjoyed it too; it was a pleasure to visit and to hear all your questions! And thanks about Tyger... I'm going to go and do some work on it in a bit!

All the best,
SF

SF Said said...

Dear Sarah,

Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I really enjoyed visiting St Joseph's and meeting you all. I'm so glad you're enjoying Phoenix – and I hope Tyger will be even better, one day!

All the best,
SF