I had a wonderful day at Cadoxton Primary School in Barry, South Wales, today. It’s a vast towering, hulk of Victorian brick and stone outside but cosy and friendly and beautifully modernised inside.

I’m visiting quite a few Schools in the Rhonda, Cynon Taf area for their Developing writing through oracy project, which I think translates into – it’s good to talk. We came up with several story ideas based on my characters, but the best had to be Reception. While trying to think of good place to hide in the hall, we realised that there were footprints on the ceiling! This developed into an idea about one of the children who was a spider child that could walk upside down on the ceiling – great fun. Thanks to all for making me feel so welcome.

Afterwards I took the opportunity to have a quick look at Barry Island itself and had a quick walk on the beach – having watched all of Gavin and Stacey, I had to really!