Award-winning children’s author invited to the first-ever ‘Midlands Reads” event streaming to 3,000 pupils

On Friday 5^th May, the Midlands region came together to hear award-winning author Serena Patel share her journey to becoming a published author. The technology allowed Serena’s session to be streamed and heard by approx. 3000 pupils as well as allowing pupils to ask questions.

The technology provided a mode to scale, however, teachers working alongside Serena to plan the session, the intentional promotion of reading through the story, character familiarity providing connections ensured the session was memorable and informative for all our pupils.

Schools sat collectively at each site to watch and listen to esteemed author Serena. As the pupils have been fans of Serena’s popular book series ‘Anisha, Accidental Detective,’ they also engaged in a ‘question and answer’ session with the author, with a range of questions about her published books, and some her own personal favourites.

Serena told the students she wished she had advanced technology available when she was at school herself: “I am so delighted that I can stand here today to speak to you all through live streaming about my journey as an author, and hopefully that inspires you to continue to read. I didn’t have the same facilities as you all when I was at school, but if I did, I probably would’ve started writing books much earlier!”

The devices have supported all pupils on their learning journey regardless of their starting points, removing many of the barriers some young people face in accessing learning resources outside of school.

Organised by Regional Director Midlands for OCL, Dr Herminder Channa OBE NLE said: “The first ever Midlands reads inspired a new generation of writers to be brave and pursue their writing passion. There are lots of books yet to be written, I wait patiently for our children to start writing them.”

A group of pupils present at the Hobmoor site had the fantastic opportunity to have their books signed by Serena and their pictures taken together for future memories.

The academies which took part were Oasis Academy Hobmoor, Oasis Academy Blakenhale Junior, Oasis Academy Boulton, Oasis Academy Foundry, Oasis Academy Short Heath, Oasis Academy Warndon and Oasis Academy Woodview.