Opening Chapters: Champions and Future Novelists!
In the English Department, we opened the 25-26 academic year with the first few pages of, what may come to be, a series of stellar debut novels!
Not set as a homework, but established as a passion project and an opportunity for our English enthusiasts, we asked students from years 7 – 10 to write the opening chapter of a novel – a novel that they’d like to write and to read.
We offered a few pointers on posters – establishing a protagonist, a setting, a scenario – but left the rest to our aspiring writers… and the results were fantastic!
All entrants will feature in our ‘Library of Legends’ display; they received a sweet treat, a certificate, and comments on their work! Entrants included: Rosa Gerschler, Evie Rice, Charvi Nigam, Chahak Nigam, Eleanor Niazi, Oreo Yung, Niamh Thomas, Marlowe McCourty, Charisse Ng, and Skye Cotterell.
We would like to especially commend the writing of William Linden, Abigail Jordan, Inaya Sheikh, Isla Bishop, Mia Chan, Maisie Dorgu, Chloe Yuen and Kylie Leung.
Our winners are listed below, along with a taster of their compositions! They each received an additional £10 book voucher, to spend on some inspirational reading. 😊
Year 7 winner, Lorelai Cookson
The phone range at 3:17am. Not the usual ringtone. Not even her phone. It was an old landline buried in the wall behind the bookcase – one Ava did not know existed until it screamed into life, like a siren, in the dead of the night.
She stared at it, heart hammering. The caller ID was blank. No number. Just one word: LISTEN.
Year 8 winner, Charlie Percival
The port was used to being empty at night. Unlike ports around the world, Port Dario’s night action was quiet. Night cargo would arrive their seldom; it was a remote location, and its daytime life was also ghostly quiet. Located near a small town, with a few factories, Shanghai was almost definitely be a better alternative to dock in. A lone ship pulled in slowly, and a rope was hoisted hastily around a pilling sleeve positioned on a small pier. The crew threw themselves out of the boat and opened a compartment inside the bottom of the boat’s front. It slid open easily, and the men dragged the cargo out, which was then positioned on the wet sand. A watchful old man on the Seacliff spotted the group and instantly started to panic. Nothing ever arrived at this time, which meant something was going on.
Year 9 winner, Connie Stephenson.
Reanne Vosquere was the thing of nightmares. At least, that was the kind of talk that bobbed and bustled through the tight streets of Rovniveham, wandering on hushed whispers through the factions of the city and winding raucous ways through the four Rugetiv of the slums. He was the creature that crawled out of shadowy alcoves, pale skin fish-belly white; the death that awaited you around a dark corner…
Year 10 winner, Emily Gray.
I’m pressed up against the backboard of my bed, knife in hand. Thunder rolls through the dark skies, the sound echoing throughout the bedroom, and as the sharp crack of lightning strikes the inky blackness, I see it again. Or, to be more specific: him. A silhouette, a man’s silhouette is stood outside my window. And he’s staring right at me…
A huge congratulations to all of our writers. Plans are afoot for a half-termly writing workshop, so that we can take our ideas further. Get in touch if you’d like to be involved!
Ms Spencer-Cruise
