MESC Learning Commons
Melbourne Writers Festival
On Tuesday, the 29th of August, a group of Year 7 through to Year 10 students went to the Melbourne Writers Festival. We had 4 sessions to attend: Write here, Write now, (a session with author and stand up comedian, Oliver Phommavanh), Fan Fiction, Short stories and Poetry Out Loud, (the grand final of Victorian students poetry).
Unfortunately we missed Write here, Write now due to a problem with the trains, but we managed to get there for the second session. Fan fiction, (session two,) was fun and enjoyable. Amie Kaufman and Diem Nguyen read out a 'Drary' fan fiction about playing on an Xbox. 'Drary' being Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy fan fiction. They talked about how you can write your own Fan Fiction and what platforms to use get your fan fiction out there.
Short stories was interesting. Cate Kennedy and Jessica Yu discussed how to get readers hooked onto short stories and how to write stories that are only a page long. Poetry Out Loud was enjoyable and entertaining. There were 25 schools that entered and only 5 made it to the grand finals. We got to watch the 5 finalists perform their poems. The poems were all based on true and disturbing matters in the world, like how women can be treated poorly, how school tells you to be who you are, but then make you learn in a certain way, and how there are gender stereotypes when there really shouldn't be.
Overall, this day was fun and exciting. We got to see authors explain how they write in their particular style and genre, as well students explaining their life in poetry form.
Belle York
Library Captain
Year 7 & 8 Literary Festival
On Thursday 21st September we hosted a whole day Literary Festival for our Year 7 & 8 students. It was a fantastic day and we received lots of compliments about our students from all of the presenters who ran workshops. It was great to see our students getting involved and interacting with our guests too. We are also the proud owners of two original artworks from Marc McBride and students were in awe at his skills and stories as he created these.
"The Literary Festival was a great way to discover new ways of writing, meet amazing Australian authors and have fun with your friends. It was really good to learn about the authors too." Amelia
"I thought the Literary Festival was a great event to learn the techniques of authors and illustrators." Tilly
"All of my workshops and presenters were fantastic" Olivia
"So fun, I really enjoyed it!" Ruby D.
"It was really excellent meeting all the authors, even some you didn't previously know." Freya
"It was fun as! I enjoyed it lots and learnt new techniques about making a good book." Jesse
Thank you to all staff and students who helped to make this day a success and we hope that this will become a regular event on our calendar.
Mrs Lynn Swannell
Librarian
Authors and Illustrators attending on the day were -
Paul Collins (author - The Warlock's Child series and Harry Kruize, Born to Lose) - organiser and owner of Ford Street Publishing
Meredith Costain (Dance Academy and the Year in Girl Hell series) - emcee for the day
Isobelle Carmody (author - Obernewtyn Chronicles and Legend Song series) - also launching her new title The Ice Maze
Judith Rossell (author/illustrator - Withering-by-Sea and Bogtrotter picture story)
George Ivanoff (author - You Choose series and Gamers trilogy)
Andrew Plant (author/illustrator - The Poppy and Spark)
Justin D'Ath (Lost World Circus series and Extreme Adventures)
Claire Saxby (author - Meet the ANZACS and Big Red Kangaroo)
Tony Thompson (author - Summer of Monsters and Shakespeare: The Most Famous Man in London)
Marc McBride (author/illustrator - Deltora Quest and The Warlock's Child)
Sherryl Clark (author - One Perfect Pirouette and Sixth Grade Style Queen)
Adam Wallace (author - Pete McGee series and Rhymes with Sketching)
Ripple Magazine 2017
Ripple is our annual school magazine and all students have an opportunity to purchase their own copy - please contact the Admin Office if you have not already ordered your copy, cost is $14 each.
Ripple contains a summary of the year at MESC - photos and articles about school events (sports carnivals, year level photos, Year 12 quotes, IDEEA Lab, Year 10 Formal, year level camps, etc.). It's a great memento for every student to have and look back at in future years.