Summerhill students meet Queen Camilla

Summerhill pupils pictured with His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant in Bristol, Peaches Golding.

Students from Bristol’s Summerhill Academy came face to face with some of their literary heroes this week, before meeting a surprise royal visitor – newly-crowned Queen Camilla.

As part of ongoing work to improve reading provision across the school, Summerhill Academy has been working with the National Literacy Trust to provide training and resources for the school library.

The programme saw children from Summerhill invited to a special celebration event in Bristol on Thursday. The children engaged with texts and created their own illustrations for famous books by Malorie Blackman OBE (Children’s Laureate 2013-2015) and Cressida Cowell (author of How to Train a Dragon).

Little did they know that the authors themselves were in attendance to lend a hand.

But an even bigger surprise lay ahead to add to the Summerhill pupils’ amazing day.

The teachers accompanying them had been given last-minute training on the correct etiquette to greet a member of the royal family. After much anticipation, Her Majesty Queen Camilla, patron of the National Literacy Trust, also arrived and spoke to teachers and children about their experiences of reading and libraries.

Summerhill Vice Principal, Kirsty McLeod-Hughes, who attended the event, said: “As always, I couldn’t have been more proud of our fabulous Summerhill children for the way they represented our community during the event.

“They spoke with respect and confidence and put to good use all of the skills that we teach them every day in school.”

Also in attendance was His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant in Bristol, Peaches Golding, who has visited Summerhill a number of times, and commented on how well the children presented themselves to the Queen.

Due to security considerations, parents weren’t able to be informed who the special guest was going to be in advance and couldn’t believe it when their children arrived back and informed them! An amazing day was had by all involved.