Earlier this year, St John’s Foundation got in touch with Bath-based children’s author Stewart Foster to work with pupils from seven local schools to write a book. The result was The Day the Alien Came, pieced together from the imaginations of 192 pupils and brought to life with illustrations by Andrew Prescott.
But what was it like to be part of the writing process?
We spoke to some of the Year 6 pupils at Castle Primary School in Keynsham, whose writing is included in the book.
The pupils explained that they had two sessions with author Stewart Foster, who wove the children’s stories together into the fabric of one book. During these sessions, they discussed what could be happening to the alien, called Jai, at a given point in the story, and the pupils then each came up with their own ideas and wrote them down. After the sessions, Stewart would read every piece of pupil’s work and put them together to build the story.
Lydia Russell, 10, said: “I really enjoyed talking to Stewart, and it was fun being able to create our own alien and choose what he was like. For me, I was in a flow of writing and could have written more but we didn’t know the rest of the story, so it was a nice surprise when we saw the finished book. And it did make me feel good to see my writing in the book!”
Whilst she does not have her heart set on writing, Lydia added that she’s interested in drama and if she were to become a successful actor, she could use her skills to write an autobiography, with a book already under her belt.
Lydia’s classmate Cassie Hill, 10, was also very pleased to see her writing in print. She said: “I liked working on the book and was really surprised and happy to see that I was in there!”
The process was not all plain sailing. Ten-year-old William McGuinness-Brooks said that he spent half the time trying to develop his idea before he could set about writing it down, but he was chuffed to see his work included in the final product.
He said: “After I got my copy of the book, my uncle was asking me for a signature as a published author!”
The children each received their own copy of The Day The Alien Came, which they signed for each other, and they also all signed a copy for Stewart Foster as a keepsake.
The children created a story about an alien Jai, whose spaceship crash-lands in Bath with his ‘Grampy’. Emerging from the wreckage of his ship, Jai is greeted by local children who take him on an extraordinary adventure, discovering the wonders of Earth and the magic of friendship.
The book is now on sale, with profits going to help stock the libraries at the participating schools, which include St Martin’s Garden Primary School, St Michael’s Junior Church School, Twerton Infant School and Nursery, St Keyna Primary School, Roundhill Primary School, Castle Primary School, and St Mary’s Church of England Primary School. Together, these schools serve 40% of the region’s most under-served children.
The Day The Alien Came can be purchased for £8.99 here, Mr B’s Emporium and The Oldfield Park Bookshop. A copy will also go to the British Library so that the young authors’ work can be enjoyed for years to come.
The project was part of marking St John’s milestone 850th year and ties in with an important pillar of our work. Since February 2020, St John’s Foundation has been committed to lowering the educational attainment gap for Key Stage 2 children living in BaNES through our Best Start in Life initiative (formerly known as the Foundation Fund). We are working to improve the outcomes for the region’s most under-served children and have a range of initiatives and partnerships in place to support in reading, writing and maths, in addition to emotional and behavioural guidance so that every child under 12 has the opportunity to grow up a healthy, happy and educated member of the community.
Read more about this work here
