Two students from King James I Academy in Bishop Auckland have had their work recognised in a national competition.
The work came from the school creative writing group, run by English Teacher Stacey Gowland. The group gives students the opportunity to develop their creative writing skills as well as collaborating with other aspiring writers in the school. The group has a set of rules on how to give one another constructive feedback as they wish to help students with their writing and confidence in sharing their work. The school is also hoping to utilise this group to show pupils the potential of writing as a career, from screenwriting to journalism so that they can see the real-world opportunities available to them through their writing.
Miss Gowland said, “I am so proud of these students. They are both amazing young writers and I am so happy that they have been recognised for their talent.”
The students submitted pieces of poetry to the Young Writers Competition which were focussed around the theme of empowerment. The judges of the competition selected the two pupils’ work following over 5000 submissions into the competition from other young people across the country. As a result, the poems will be published and the two students will be shortlisted, giving them the chance to win the overall competition. The competition editor said that although choosing winning and shortlisted entries is to an extent subjective, their aim in encouraging young writers is to choose work based on: imagination, creativity, originality, use of language and interpretation of the theme.
King James I Academy Head Teacher Simon Whitehead shared “I’m delighted that our students have been recognised for their hard work and creativity. We have made the development of literacy skills a top priority across the Academy and this is clear evidence of the impact the strategies are having on students. They deserve huge congratulations for their efforts and I look forward to seeing their poems in print.”
Young Writers run competitions throughout the academic year for nurseries, primary and secondary schools. They usually run poetry competitions at the beginning of each half term and creative writing competitions in the second half. For primary and secondary schools they normally run one competition across the academic year. They also send competition packs to schools, which always include a lesson plan in line with the Curriculum.
Chris Zarraga, Director at Schools North East said “Congratulations to the two students and their teachers on being recognised nationally. This achievement is not only down to the pupils’ talent but also a testament to the hard work of the school staff and the English department who enabled them to succeed. Schools North East is committed to highlighting the positive stories of North East schools and tackling the negative narrative which too often dominates the media.”
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