Alan Gibbons Children's novelist Alan Gibbons spoke to all pupils in Years 7 and 8 about his career as a writer. He explained that inspiration was an important as careful research and diligence. Alan spoke about his new novel 'Scared to Death'. In this thriller, bodies appear in the East of London without a mark upon them, only a look of terror on their faces. Alan's books are available in the LRC. Click to see what some of the pupils had to say.
Ian McMillan - The Big Family Show Ian worked with a class of Year 10 pupils during the afternoon. His workshop on rhyme and rhythm was lively and fun. In the evening Ian performed his Big Family Show to a large audience. The evening also featured pupils reading their own original work which they also read on Stray FM and BBC Radio York during the afternoon. Click to read some of the pupils' thoughts on Ian's visit.
Ilkley Literature Festival - Boori Monty Pryor Click here to read more about this fascinating trip for some of our Year 8 pupils
National Poetry Day - Visit of Mandy Sutter Poet Mandy Sutter visited St. Aidan's for National Poetry Day to work with Year 7 pupils. Mandy has been writing for as long as she can remember. Her first poems appeared in the school magazine. Since then her award-winning poems and short stories have appeared in literary magazines and on BBC Radio 4. She taught creative writing for ten years at the University of Leeds and works regularly at a school in Washington DC.Her most recent publication is The Asylum Seeker (June 2007), the story of the first Bedouin women to receive a formal education.

National Poetry Day Competition

This year the English Department rang a National Poetry Day competition on 'found' language. Ellie won 1st place with 'Polar Planet', 2nd place went to Isaac with 'Debbie the Bluetongue' and Katy won 3rd place with her poem 'Am I Watching You?'. Mr Richards presented all three students with prizes in assembly. Click on the images to read the poems.

Local war hero Norman Lusher visited St. Aidan's and spoke to a Year 8 class about his experiences during World War II. Norman was a member of a Wellington Bomber. He spoke widely in an articulate, witty fashion informing the pupils you don't need to remember the truth because you know it already.

Norman, 87 years old, explained to the class how he had recently been to Berlin to pay tribute to his fallen comrades.

Read some of the pupils' thoughts of his visit.

I went to see Pete Sansom, it was very good and he inspired me to write more poetry. I was encouraged to go by my English teacher, Mr Pickford. We had lots of fun and wrote many poems. Thank you Pete! - Poppy

I went to see Pete Sansom, we wrote poems and two stories. We wrote nonsense poems and were often had to use our imagination or think of people or memories. Overall, I think that I would do it again. I think my poems were really good and I am pleased with them. - Ellie

In February, Rommi Smith, the writer in residence for the Houses of Westminster, visited St. Aidan's to work with the Music & English departments on a combined jazz project.

Rommi explained the history of jazz, some of its musical characteristics and the nature of jazz lyrics. Pupils then wrote their own lyrics inspired by singers like Bessie Smith. Rommi also demonstrated the nature of jazz blues by reading from her own work.

In the afternoon, pupils formed a number of jazz bands and pupils improvised reading and singing their lyrics. To read some of their work click here

The evening event was a sell out. It began with the Swing Band performing under Mrs Elliott's direction. John described their performance as 'brilliant'.

A second musical item consisted of Ed McClelland, Jonny Wheeler, Andy Crick, Matthew Newby and Tom Sissons putting a number of John's poems to music. Their original composition also contained a cameo walk-on part for Director of Music, Mr Pallant.

Rommi Smith was invited to St. Aidan's to work with a group of Year 9 pupils for the day. Recently Rommi has appeared on 'The Verb' and 'The Late Junction' on Radio 3.

Having performed in assembly, Rommi set up a classroom as a crime scene. The pupls were encouraged to examine the clues and try to work out what had happened. Among the clues were a turned over chair, some jewellery, a box of chocolates, a burning candle, spots of blood on a chair, roses and lilies, books and a copy of The Metro.

Here are just a few of the thoughts of the students about the day:

"We looked at a crime scene and discovered that things are what you make them. Rommi made the exercise fun and exciting using a variety of methods." Heather

"Rommi taught us fun and useful ways of writing successful pieces without you knowing it". Ben

"We did some detective work looking at evidence and coming up with a verdict. I learned that this is similar to writing, picking pieces then writing them. We all got the same evidence and then came up with a written piece or evidence in our own unique way" Ashlee

On February 9th, poet Ann Sansom visited school for the day.

Ann has had two books published by Bloodaxe Press, 'Romance' and 'In Praise of Men & Other People'.

She has also written and directed two plays for Doncaster Women's Centre, where she worked for many years as librarian and latterly as a writing tutor.

Ann worked mainly with Year 7 for the day and met with the Sixth Form Writing Workshop students where she discussed writing and got the students to write about a key that opens a particular or imagined door.

Have a look below at a couple of the students' thoughts on the day:

"I thought that it was great having a real poet with us. She taught us interesting ways of writing and told us that you are your own critic. We were allowed to write and think for ourselves. It was a nice change." Lewis

On 7th March author Lucy Adlington visited St. Aidan's to work with the Year 8 pupils. She spoke in assembly about her favourite books and then spoke to all of the Year 8 forms. In Lucy's lively and interesting talk she spoke about keeping a diary, how it was important to read as much as possible and how to get started with writing.Lucy asked for volunteers during her talk and asked pupils to imagine the clues that tell us about what characters are like. She spoke about a range of books that she liked, including 'Ann Frank's Diary'. Lucy encouraged pupils to consider alternative realities, how the world might have gone - 'What if......'
Lucy visited the Star Group on the 2nd of March and came to school to promote Book Week. During Book Week pupils were allowed to read for 15 minutes after lunch, all week. Lucy Adlington is the author of 'The Diary of Pelly D'. Her second book, Cherry Heaven is forthcoming.

The poet Pete Sansom visited St. Aidan's for two days before Easter to work with pupils in Years 7 and 8. Dr Sansom is a published poet and author of the Bloodaxe book 'Writing Poetry'. He has worked at many universities as well as being writing in residence for Marks & Spencer and The Prudential. Pete is editor of the poetry magazine 'The North.' He also runs the poetry press Smith-Doorstep.

During his visits Pete read in assembly and had all of the Year 7 pupils performing actions to his poem about riding his bike. He also read a poem about the great knitters of his life. Working with pupils, Pete got them to write on many different subjects: their house, their street, hair styles and wearing a particular item of clothing or glasses.

"This morning a nice man called Peter Sansom came to visit us. We wrote about something - a body part we had lost. It was very interesting". Natalie

"It was really interesting, His tips were great, This morning we wrote a poem about yourself, but you had lost a body part. It has been an amazing experience, and it has helped me progress with my poetry." Max

On Wednesday 21st June Michelle Jaffe the author of Bad Kitty came to our school. The afternoon was full of activities, talks and authograph signing.

Michelle talked about 'Bad Kitty' and how she went to different colleges to research the book. She also spoke about her life and how she came from Las Vegas. She signed books and had her photograph taken with some of the students.

Buckden Pike Project

With the assistance of scriptwriter Paul Dodgson who has worked extensively on Radio 4, a group of fourteen Year 8 pupils from St. Aidan's Church of England High School, Harrogate, worked for three days on the Buckden Pike Writing Project.
On the first day, Norman Lusher, a former crew member of a Wellington bomber, spoke to the group about his war-time experiences. Norman told the group how he used to wear silk and camel-hair underwear while in the plane as the temperatures were so cold. Norman also gave the group an idea of what it was like to fly over occupied territory.

On the second day, the group walked to the top of Buckden Pike and laid flowers at the Memorial Cross in honour of the dead. Here, despite the cold weather, the group staked out the dimensions of a Wellington bomber and participated in a number of writing exercises led by Paul. The group gained a first-hand idea of the incredible journey made by the sole survivor of the crash, rear gunner Joe Fusniak. On the final day of the project, the group wrote their script of the crash and how Joe was able to make his way down to Cray despite his injuries. Some of the details they included in their narrative came from this website and the letters that Joe very kindly sent to the group.

National Poetry Day: Thursday 5th October

For National Poetry Day, the English Department arranged for all the Year 7 pupils to write a poem on the theme of identity, the official theme of the Day. The poems were then attached to balloons and launched in a mass of colour. Hopefully, somewhere a person will find the balloon, enjoy the poem and even contact the school with a comment.
The other inspiring idea for the day was an 'Off the Page' poetry competition where pupils could write, often from the point of view of the object, on any object they wanted - literally!
Some entries were on slate, written on a person, on a mirror, made out of alphabet spaghetti or written with acorns. The best poems carefully considered the object they were written on.

Visit of Philip Reeve

On Monday 9th October, the winner of the Guardian children's book award for "The Darkling Plain" visited St. Aidan's. He worked with two Year 7 classes as well as members of the STAR reading group.

Visit to Ilkley Literature Festival: Malorie Blackman At the Ilkley Literature Festival this year, pupils in Years 8 and 9 enjoyed listening to acclaimed novelist Malorie Blackman, author of 'Noughts and Crosses'. Malorie was an energetic and enthusiastic speaker who read from some of her novels. She told the audience how she had been rejected 82 times by publishers before going on to write over 50 novels. To read some of the comments from pupils who went click here