Workshops

The information given during assemblies to high school students is also covered for Primary pupils but in a more sensitive manner.

Content includes

• My own experiences with my son who has congenital facial disfigurement – the way people respond to him at times and my hopes for my son and his future
• The similarities between my son and the pupils in the assembly
• The feelings of those who have facial disfigurement
• Strategies to treat those with a disfigurement or visible difference positively
• Why I wrote my book ‘ Our Altered Life’ and my motivation for starting a charity to raise awareness of facial disfigurement.
• Questions and Answers session

This can be delivered over 45 minutes approx. to include questions. Based on requests from primary schools I also follow this up with an author workshop per class where I cover:

• Why I loved reading and creative writing
• Similarities in writing my book and pupils own writing experiences
• Year 3 and 4 – Letter writing to Harry to explain what pupils have learned about him, how they are similar and any questions they have for him.
• Year 5 and 6 – Letter writing to an internet ‘troll’ who has sent an abusive message online (this workshop also covers the topic of cyber-bullying) 

As a qualified teacher with DBS clearance, the feedback has been fantastic both from pupils who have enjoyed the sessions, staff who have seen the assembly and workshops and parents who have contacted me with overwhelming appreciation and support . Please head to the testimonies page to read some of the comments.

I end the programme with a competition (per class) for pupils to design a face showing WHO they are as a person and not just what they look like. Please visit the competition section of this website to find out more.

There is a charge for the author workshops and I do ask that primary schools have an event to fund raise for the charity e.g. non-uniform day, bake sale etc. Please get in touch to discuss this further.