Author Matt Oldfield Visits Burford School

We were delighted to welcome Matt Oldfield, co-author of the exceptionally popular Ultimate Football Heroes and Classic Football Heroes series, to school on Friday 27 January 2023.

To date, the Ultimate Football Heroes series has sold over 300,000 copies in the UK alone.

Matt held an assembly for all our Year 7 students, inspiring them with his career as a writer, discussion of his books and the brilliance of reading. He then led a series of workshops with students, including those that take part in Reading Buddies, Burford’s targeted reading intervention programme, in our newly opened Library.

Matt regularly works with schools and organisations such as The National Literacy Trust and The National Football Museum to deliver football-based literacy workshops. Thoroughly enjoyed by all and building on their learning in the classroom, students explored ‘bouncing back’ in their writing workshop, encouraging resilience in the face of setbacks.

Mrs Count, Burford School Librarian, commented on the visit:

‘It was a pleasure to welcome Matt to Burford School, especially to our fantastic new Library, which has proven to be a brilliant workshop space to inspire students in a bright and engaging atmosphere.

Our aim at Burford School is to make all students into readers and writers, no matter where they begin. The Library encourages literacy, not only with books, but with a programme of clubs and events, of which author visits play an important part. Visits such as Matt’s offer the students a chance to engage with reading and writing outside of a classroom environment and to be inspired by a professional writer—someone who can encourage them to stretch themselves and think and act outside their comfort zone, whether it’s plotting a story or reading aloud to an entire class.

We are proud to have welcomed Matt as our first author to our new Library, and we look forward to hosting many more visits here in the future.’