We have been very much enjoying the skills evident in creative writing amongst Year 9s over the past week.
For their mid-term ‘Key Piece’ in English, students been a descriptive piece about a desolate character on a seashore. The results have been remarkable, not to mention evocative, thoughtful and moving. Like this from L. Cullen (9T1) who used his piece to depict isolation loneliness and sacrifice, describing his figure as a guardian: ‘His immense presence, standing at attention, though painfully isolated from any comrades. He could not falter; his duty was to the ocean’.
There are also many fine examples of students using techniques and structures that will help them develop into confident authors by the time they begin their GCSE years. At this stage students are busy experimenting with new words, techniques and images to see if they can create a telling impact with their description. Like J. Hollick (9T1) who uses the image of a struggling sun to show us how his character might also be struggling, ‘Despite the clouds blanketing the Earth in a grim grey, the sun’s heat still somehow manages to fight through the clouds, keeping me warm...’ A. Williams (9T1) skilfully uses the metaphor of a bird appearing to signal a change of mood and also uses a triplet of adverbs to help the reader feel what his character is feeling, ‘Zooming and gliding effortlessly across the sky, a dove contrasted with its desolate surroundings. Delicately, beautifully, elegantly, the dove reminded me of what I could have been. L. Thompson-Clarke (9T1) uses a simple repeated phrase to convey a feeling of growing sadness: ‘I sink deeper. Eyes glazed over, I stare off into the grey sky trying to find solace and hope from the weak light that penetrates the clouds only to be reflected and rejected by the sea. I sink deeper.’
These are just four, but there are many such examples of thoughtful and imaginative young authors in the making.
WELL DONE!
