On Friday 20th October, it was a pleasure to once again welcome 250 primary school children and 35 teachers from all over London to FHS for Coram Beanstalk‘s BookFest. Thank you to Coram Beanstalk for their work in orchestrating this amazing event, and to our FHS Outreach team and other staff for their help on the day. Kate from Coram Beanstalk has described the day below:

“The Beanstalk BookFest was first hosted by Coram Beanstalk at Francis Holland in 2016 with the aim of bringing the live, interactive author experience to children who might not ordinarily have that opportunity. Although there are children’s literary events springing up all over the country, many cost money and rely on willing and able parents to take their child to such an event. Many schools also struggle with the costs of arranging in-school author talks.

At Coram Beanstalk, we believe that every child has the right to become a reader and experience the pleasure that reading can bring. We know that children who choose to read have better chances in life so it’s important for them to discover how much fun can be derived from a book. And what better way to reinforce that than by allowing them to experience a live event with a real author who can truly bring their stories to life?

We have a wonderful network of author supporters who give their time freely to allow Coram Beanstalk children to have the opportunity to attend a live author event and, thanks to the generosity of Francis Holland School, we are able to invite all of the schools in London with whom we work to bring a group of children at no charge.

The BookFest at FHS has certainly become the highlight of my year and all of us at Coram Beanstalk thank you for hosting us so that we can offer it to our partner schools.”

We have also received some lovely feedback from the primary schools who attended. For example, Broadfields Primary School in Edgware said: “You made the dreams come true for so many of our children!! The Beanstalk BookFest has become the highlight of the Broadfields calendar.”