ENGLISH

Writing Extension Program

The Writing Extension Program involves Grade 6 students from Birmingham Primary School, an English teacher from Yarra Hills Secondary College and a representative from Lilydale High School.

Every Friday we meet for an hour, one week at Birmingham, the following week at the high school. 

The writing program has focused on improving the students’ writing skills in figurative language and focusing on character, setting, storyline and short story structure. 

We have shared mentor texts including classic literature and Year 7 writing.   The students love sharing their own writing with each other. 

The program culminated in a celebration morning at our high school where the students read their favourite paragraph and discussed their story and why they chose that paragraph. Morning tea was enjoyed at the end of the program. 

This has been a wonderful opportunity for the three schools to work together, the students to become familiar with a high school setting and to develop confidence in their writing. 

Sample Grade 6 writing:

As I pick up a book that slipped out of my hand, I slowly walk into the detention room trying to avoid everyone and everything. The detention room was an old cobwebby place and was pitch black. Suddenly icy fingers grabbed my arm as I inched through the darkness. I had never been in the detention room before; I closed my red icy eyes. Please be a nightmare. I whisper and when I open my eyes, I'm still in the detention room. The word shame fills the air as I begin to cry. I am not a bad person.

She walks slowly over to the window the floorboards creaking beneath her. She stared intently into the dark, starry sky. She thinks she has everything she needs. She grabs her spare pillows from the cupboard and forms a human shape under the blankets. She leans in closer to the window slowly unlocking it with the tiny silver key. She stops and thinks. Does she really want to start this adventure? 

Icy wind slashed at my face as the rain danced its evil dance upon my head as I tried to get my bearings on the isolated beach. The hot sand was burning my feet as if I was standing on a barbeque. I toppled over and hit my head on a coconut tree. Blood slowly starts to pour out of my head. I scramble around on the floor trying to find something to put around my head, my hand runs over something smooth, and I aggressively swipe it up and put it on my bloody head.

Jane Hemmings