Whole School assembly at Milking Bank Primary- resilience and ambition

Today, Wednesday 30th April, I returned to my son's primary school: Milking Bank Primary in Dudley. My son, who is now in Year 11, attended this amazing primary school and did very well there, becoming Head Boy in Year 6. I attended today and did a whole school assembly on two of the school's values. AMBITION and RESILIENCE.

The Year 1 children who I had already shared my book with a few weeks before, remembered some of the funny parts that they liked in my book. One child stated: "I liked it when the dogs rolled in the mud!" Another recalled: "I liked it when they went in the water." I showed the images to the rest of the children and Mrs Mullet, a member of staff. She thought the illustrations were beautiful.

I shared my desire to be an author for my whole life so being an author was an AMBITION of mine. After explaining how I had started writing a book about dogs in my twenties but then giving up as I didn't have time, I spoke about my journey.

I explained that I had only achieved my ambition last year when I had become very poorly, fighting cancer. Instead of giving up and feeling sorry for myself, which would have been so easy to do, I tried new things, showing RESILIENCE! I had submitted my first book and was published within six months. I shared with the children the steps I took to becoming an author. I gave them advice to decide upon their subject, their audience and how they would entertain their audience. I had written about things that I am interested in: dogs and Maths! I encouraged the children to think about what they would write about if they became authors.

The children listened really well and hopefully I inspired them to show AMBITION and RESILIENCE in their lives. As they were leaving the hall, several children spoke directly to me. One girl said she hoped to be a ballerina and another asked about the publisher I used, Austin Macaluey, as she wishes to be an author. I was so pleased to share my journey with them. They chorused their school motto: Aspire, Believe, Achieve!

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