Press release
A group of Year 9 students at Paulet High School & 6th Form College have just proved that when it comes to imagination they wrote the book – literally!
On Monday, the writers were handed a story brief. They brainstormed ideas, developed characters and by the end of the day had plotted the entire story.
Then they started writing. Without giving too much away, the story they came up with is a sci-fi. Aliens escaping a war-torn planet crash on Earth and seek refuge. The trouble is, the first living thing they come across is a dog called Boris, which is assumed to be the planet’s dominant species. A pair of young friends discover the crashed ship and are kidnapped. A retired police officer is on the case, but he’s more interested in finding the dog to impress its owner, Mildred for whom he holds a flame. Will he ever worm his way into Mildred’s affections? Will the lost girls escape? And of the fate of planet Earth?
If you want to know the answers to these questions and more, Silence in the Woods available to buy on Amazon now http://amzn.eu/baVUOCu .
The experience left Ashton, one of the group members nothing short of amazed. “The book is a sci-fi book about aliens. My character is a leader of an alien invasion against earth. His name is Zargo. I have really enjoyed this week. I especially enjoyed the writing part – it’s an amazing experience”.
Andrew Griffiths, Member of Parliament for Burton and Uttoxeter who was unable to attend the book signing event due to Parliamentary business wrote letters to the students. “I am sorry that I cannot attend the book launch on 2nd May. It sounds as if you will have an amazing day and certainly well deserved. I look forward to reading the as yet “untitled” book, they synopsis has certainly stirred my interest”. He wrote further “The comments of your mentors are a glowing tribute of how hard you all worked and worked together. I am sure you must all be extremely proud of your achievement”.
The Mayor of East Staffordshire, Simon Gaskin who attended the event and presented certificates with Headteacher Ian McArthur said “Excellent event for a brilliant activity for the pupils to take part in. We are very pleased to be here to present the certificates to all those involved, and would like to congratulate all those who took part, including pupils, teachers, etc”
The Headteacher, Ian McArthur was also very proud “Today is a wonderful celebration for the students and their parents. It just goes to show, hard work does pay off.”
Ahsan Ashraf, Progress & Achievement Coordinator at the school who organised the project felt proud “Our students have worked very hard and have had a brilliant opportunity to be able to write and publish a book in a week. They have made their school, parents and peers very proud”.
Claire McArthur the school’s head of English was astonished “It’s amazing to see such close collaboration between the students. They have worked together non-stop all week and built up a real momentum to get the book published. I think we have made some upcoming famous authors”.
And Richard Seymour from Keele University, who worked with the students throughout the week, added: “The writers from Paulet have really impressed me. We don’t give them any ideas. They have complete ownership of the book. It’s totally their achievement. It’s been wonderful to see them organise themselves and grow in confidence. The support from the school and staff has been fantastic too.”