'Spy Dog' Visits Elms Pupils

Pupils from Years 2-5 at The Elms, Junior School to Trent College, were in for a treat this week, when award winning author Andrew Cope and his dog Lara came to visit, creating a perfect start to the School’s World Book Week activities.

Lara is the inspiration behind Andrew’s bestselling Spy Dog novels, in which a specially trained secret agent dog has many adventures, chasing mega-baddy ‘Mr Big’. The real Lara cannot play computer games or drive a car like her counterpart in the books but she was very patient with the pupils who all wanted to stroke her.

Andrew, from Derby, gave an inspirational talk to the children about books and stories, explaining why reading is so important today and explained to pupils that reading encourages the imagination and makes your brain work harder than watching T.V. The pupils went away with signed copies of the Spy Dog books (Andrew even gave out some free copies) and were inspired to take part in a competition, designed to fire their imagination and improve their writing skills, by writing their own story about a pet gorilla. As an extra incentive all entries stand a chance of winning a special Spy Dog t-shirt!

Andrew’s incredibly popular books have won several awards, including a Nottingham Book Award and Redhouse Children’s Book of the Year.

Both The Elms and Trent College believe that reading is an important factor in ensuring the well-being and happiness of our children and The Elms’ wonderful new library promotes reading for pleasure in a variety of ways, one of which is through meeting an author. All pupils at The Elms have now met a writer this academic year, which has further inspired them to read and to use their imagination. And they have had a lot of fun, too!