Could you be a bit like Alan Sugar?

Another strange request from our local school. “We’d like you to come in and be a bit gruff with the kids. Set them a project, but be a little bit scary at the same time. Think… Alan Sugar.”

Now, that’s not my usual style, but that is how I found myself making mean faces in front of four classes of school children, briefing them on that term’s project. They were to research and write the content for a Rough Guide to Great Britain, which I would design and produce as a finished booklet. I would be the ‘Editor’ and they would be my ‘Reporters’.

Throughout the term the classes received my emailed instructions and were set assignments for the project. Some children were given Scotland as a topic, whilst others researched Wales or South West England. They went on trips to London, walked the length of the Severn Bridge and spent a day at the seaside. They tasted haggis, scones and Welsh cakes. They learnt how to ride a surfboard and designed their own flags.

The work was superb. I received a CD full of drawings, articles and photographs all produced by the children. There were instructions on how to make Welsh Rarebit; designs for their own tartan; poems about Buckingham Palace. Lovely stuff.

I selected the most interesting pieces (a difficult task as there was so much to choose from) and quickly filled all eight pages of the travel guide. With just hours to spare I sent the booklet to the printers.

This week I was welcomed back in to the school to present the booklets to my little apprentices. One by one, in front of a sea of smiling faces, they came up to the stage, shook my hand and received a copy to take home.

But this time I tried to be just a little bit less scary.

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UPDATE: To see full details of the school project and a PDF of the finished booklet CLICK HERE

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