Ghost-like slugs inhabiting the moon, emotional journeys of healing broken hearts and an intriguing title, Switch Back, were just some of the ideas that materialised in the ‘Write a Book in a Day’ event. On Tuesday 22 August, Year 5 students worked in teams over a nine hour period to craft stories in our KDS competition. Please click here to see photos from the day. The competition required that teams create a cohesive narrative of at least 1800 words, as well as integrating certain parameters such as a doctor, a conflict revolving around ‘seeking forgiveness’ and five specified ‘random words’.

We were fortunate to be joined by celebrated author, Elliot Perlman, who judged the narratives together with Janice Shearer. Mazal tov to the winning group with their work Alex Ruben. Judging was structured around six criteria including continuity of events, deliberate choice of language, and the crafting of ideas to support a theme. Elliot offered our Year 5 students wise words about resilience, overcoming adversity and accepting loss as necessary on the path to success. The students listened intently as the words resonated with their experience, and will, no doubt, serve them in times to come.

Throughout the entire day students demonstrated impressive collaborative skills, a high level of engagement and effort as they worked towards their common goal. The narratives showcase the creative talents of our Year 5 students and their strong command of language. Congratulations to all teams for setting high expectations…and achieving them.

Thanks to the team of staff who each made special contributions to enhance the day – David Opat, Janice Shearer, Rebecca Rudstein, Rebecca Fiala, Nissim Ben-Salamon and Celeste McMillan.

Naomi Popper, Gideon Sharp and Debbie Arnheim