English 

Steven Herrick - Author Visit

This term in English, we had Australian author and poet, Steven Herrick, visit Year 11 and 8 students. 

Year 11 English Studies and Standard students have been studying Herrick’s novel The Simple Gift in their classes. The Simple Gift is a verse novel that follows a young man’s journey as he leaves his complicated home life to live on the streets. Year 11 English Studies looked at how the verse novel demonstrates the importance of education and community. Year 11 English Standard students examined how Herrick used language to compose interesting characters and realistic conflict, which they then needed to use as inspiration for their own writing in their Term 1 Assessment Task. It was an enlightening experience to get to hear Herrick’s take on the inspiration and ideas he embedded into the novel, most of which came from his own experiences of homelessness as a young person. 

Year 8 are engaging in a study of poetry next term. They listened to Herrick speak about his experiences writing poetry and built on their poetry skills. It was a great opportunity for students and teachers to hear him speak.

Ms Phillips

Head Teacher, English