A tale centred around a barren field and a raging war, magical crystals ground into a medicinal paste, and feelings of terror and deja-vu were just some of the ideas that materialised in the ‘Write a Book in a Day’ event. On Tuesday 19 August, Year 5 students worked in teams over a nine hour period to craft stories in our KDS competition. The competition required that teams create a cohesive narrative, with refined structure and literary elements. 

We were fortunate to be joined by celebrated author, Elliot Perlman, who judged the narratives together with David Opat. 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 challenge and accepting loss as necessary on the path to success. His key message to the students was that ‘successful people fail, everybody fails. It’s what you do afterwards that counts’. No doubt, Elliot’s words will inspire students to hold a growth mindset when facing adversity.

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, Romy Lipson, Gideon Sharp and Rochelle Wittenberg.

Debbie Arnheim, Talent Development Coordinator