Emailing every school in the country

It's taken a fortnight, but I think I may have just emailed every school in the country.

Okay, not quite every one, there are pockets of the country which I haven't scoured yet - Kent has yet to hear from me, as has North Wales and parts of the North and Scotland, but everywhere that I think I can get to with my Comic Art Masterclasses has heard from me, as near to the start of term as I could manage. So if they want me, they now know where to find me.

My database of schools, which comprises a simple, primitive Word document that is, basically, just a list of email addresses, was begun back in 2008 when The Beano stopped using me regularly and I realised I would have to step up the occasional invited classes that I had been doing, and turn it into more of a replacement for the work I was losing. I've added to it sporadically as the years have gone by.

It now runs to 65 pages, the most recent addition to which is the email address of every school in Hampshire, which it took a whole day to compile. Prior to that, I just went through every email in Somerset and updated them, as every one of them has changed the format of their email addresses in the past year or so, and... and I've just realised that's about as interesting as that subject can get.



Yes, I've been doing the most basic administrative office work this week, the sort of thing you'd give to the lowliest drudge in the office, were it not for the fact that, in a one man operation, that's me. It is in fact rather satisfying when, at 11 o'clock last night, I finally got to the end of the alphabet of Hampshire schools. You will not believe how many schools' names begin with a W! Wood this, and Wal that, Whit this, and Woolly that, W is a surprisingly common initial for old English place names, and just as I thought I'd got to the end of them there was another page-full to go through. Though none beginning with X or Z, so that's something. (Oh yes, I've found an alphabetical list of schools. And, no, I'm not going to tell you where.)

Whether this mass emailing, which has seen me reach my Google Mail limit a couple of times (which is why it takes so long - if you send more than 500 emails in a day, or if too many bounce, you trigger the spam alerts) is going to turn into bookings from fresh schools, we shall see. There have been a few enquiries already, and the term is young. I began emailing schools in the last week of August, when only Scottish schools were back (leading to bookings in Penicuik and Grangemouth already), so I got a slew of replies telling me their school would be back next week.

And my visits to schools themselves have begun, with Christchurch in Bradford on Avon being the first school of the year, as they were last year too. And tomorrow I do an experiment, which I've done before and which I pledge not to repeat every time: I have agreed to teach infants. I know. Check back with me tomorrow when it all goes terribly wrong. But I felt I ought to try and expand my repertoire and see whether dealing with the very young is totally beyond me, or remind myself why I always stipulate "7 and over" for my classes. (The last group of ankle-biters I taught was a Year 2 group in Wimbledon where, if I recall correctly, the teacher banned them from taking their comic home because they had chosen to name it The Fat Lady With The Fat Tummy, and we don't use terms like that in Year 2. Oh tomorrow should be fun.)

I've also designed myself a new Twitter header and icon for the new season. Let's go to work.

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. View the promo video