Programme for schools

Across the first two days of the Hay Festival in Wales, our Programme for Schools welcomes over 2,000 students to the Dairy Meadows site along with their accompanying teachers. Thanks to the kind support of the Festivals of Literature Charitable Trust, pupils and teachers from state-funded schools across Powys and Herefordshire enjoy a free cross-curricular programme of leading children’s writers and performers.

The Programme for Schools provides a unique opportunity to reach out to children in Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 who rarely or never attend cultural events due to their rural location. We create a mini-Hay experience for every pupil – including the obligatory ice creams, picnics, book bags filled with goodies and, of course, opportunities to meet their literary heroes.

As well as attending all events for free, each pupil receives a free ticket to a public event of their choice, so they can return and experience the festival further during their half-term.

I thought the grounds were amazing and pretty. Alex Scarrow was awesome. I loved the quiz game he did.Llanigon School pupil

I enjoyed Time Riders by Alex Scarrow because he was funny and full of energy.Fairfield High School pupil

Thank you for our lovely day at the festival, the pupils really enjoyed it and were asking if they could come back next year. We were really impressed with how well-organised the day was and would like to thank you for inviting our school.Teacher, Brecon High School

I cannot fault the programme provided and the children have displayed a new found enthusiasm for the books they heard about. Thank you for a well-organised, teacher- and child-friendly day, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the children and staff.Teacher, Clyro School

I took my bookclub (16 students) to the Secondary School day at the Hay Festival this year. Everyone really enjoyed it and all the workshops were absolutely terrific. I have recommended to the school that we take all Year 9 students next year. This would amount to around 200 students in total.Teacher, Kingstone High School