Cordwalles pupils taken on a journey into imagination by author’s visit

Year Six pupils at Cordwalles School in Camberley were transported out of the classroom and onto two of history’s most infamous voyages recently when author and illustrator William Grill visited to talk about the Titanic, and Ernest Shackleton’s legendary South Pole
expedition.

Willow and Maple classes discovered his work during their recent Antarctic project, and then began doing work on the ill-fated ocean voyage, which he also covered during his visit.

“William was absolutely brilliant with the children,” said teacher Philippa Leah, who organised his visit. “He’s only 24, so they could relate to him, and he told them all about how he got into the world of illustration and writing, as well as showing them his artist’s
sketchbooks where he did his working. They were fascinated."

It was not just a day of watching and listening, either, as the children soon got their hands dirty in the name of art. “He was showing them how to use different ink and brush strokes to create visual effects, and before long was demonstrating how to make entire pictures out of blobs of ink, then creating big pictures,” Ms Leah explained. “Then with Willow class, he created a large scale drawing of the Titanic, and with Maple he worked on passengers who might have been on board. The children were fascinated by watching him work and
getting involved themselves."

One pupil who has taken the Titanic to his heart was given a particularly special treat. “Harish in Maple class is so into the topic that he’s creating his own children’s book all about it, so William took particular time out with him to discuss ways he could develop his ideas, and give him a professional masterclass and a whole sheet of ideas”, said Ms Leah. “It was brilliant to see someone in the classroom being so inspired by and benefiting so much from one of our visitors. That’s precisely what school visits should be about.”