English News 

Creative Writing Workshop with Author Michael Prior

During the workshop on Monday 21 August, Mr Michael Pryor highlighted the importance of preparation, particularly worldbuilding to create an engaging setting. Our first task was simple. Imagine a wall surrounding a city. A wall protecting the city’s inhabitants. A wall keeping the villains out. Using our five senses, we slowly formed our wall from the bottom up. 

For me, I was staring at a towering dull grey fortification, feeling its cracks and imperfections, and hearing the guards above shouting commands and messages from above. But as massive and imposing as it was, it could only be represented by a simple oval on my sheet of paper. To fill in this underrated oval, our next task was to create a city to house inside these walls. Channeling our inner architect, we discussed what buildings and areas were most critical to our city, and what suspenseful complications could arise from these settings to challenge our characters. Suddenly, just on a piece of paper, I saw what used to be a single, oddly-shaped oval become a bustling and lively city, filled with imposing buildings, markets, residential housing, even an area where the law had no control over its inhabitants. These two tasks forced me to not only expand and utilise my imagination, but to imagine the settings of my plot in its entirety, eliminating all grey areas. I truly enjoyed this workshop. 

Darshawin Tan – Year 9

ICAS 2023

While August 16th offered a rare break for many students, it wasn't the case for those juggling ICAS English and a Theatre Studies excursion. With the hour-long assessment scheduled at ten and roll-call for theatre at twelve, those engaged in both had a choice: tackle the test on the train or reach the city by ten, using the State Library for the exam. Opting for the latter, my friends and I hurriedly signed in to our accounts outside the library's doors, which was conveniently closed until ten (exactly when ICAS would start).

Neriah Morales - Year 10

Congratulations to the 200 students from Year 9 English and Year 10 World Classics who logged in to complete ICAS English remotely on 16/8 - practicing skills that are essential in terms of your future development in English in a digital world! Yes I received many messages of ‘can you please resend my code’ and ‘oops I thought we started at 1030’ and ‘I think I have been locked out’ but I appreciate the effort and resilience to partake and continue despite the challenges faced. Thank you one and all and now we wait to hear how well we all did!

Ms Kat Webster