Co-curricular Corner

Hi everyone, I’m Sally Obaid, MLC School Literary Captain for 2024. My role as literary captain is to foster a love for literature by promoting different literary initiatives, competitions or clubs throughout the School and I work closely with the English and Library Departments There are several benefits of reading and writing which go beyond our schooling and education and both tasks prove to be common hobbies or forms of relaxation through creativity and freedom of expression.

Our School provides several activities which allow students to freely express their creativity and love for literature through activities like Writers Society, The Edge, the Thelma Herring Competition and various activities during Book Week.

Writers Society is an initiative which has restarted this year. This club occurs every second week on a Thursday lunch time. The co-curricular club is a space for writers to create stories ranging from poems or fiction, compare ideas and stories with fellow students across several years, engage with different writing prompts and seek feedback from others or teachers. Each fortnight a different prompt is provided to challenge students to experiment with different writing styles (optional): a theme/prompt will be provided each semester for students to create a writing piece and students will also have a passion project to be working on throughout the entirety of the semester. This club is open to all year groups (Year 7 – Year 12). The club will publish a Writers Society Journal at the end of each Semester (at the end of Term 2 and Term 4) to broadcast all the writers literary and creative talents to the school and each student will include two pieces of writing. If you have any questions about Writers society, feel free to contact myself or Mr Joseph Pfeffer.

Additionally, The EDGE newspaper society is another co-curricular which several students are involved in and is open to Year 6 – Year 12. The EDGE is a student-led newspaper society which publishes a new issue each term based on a theme which is established at the start of each term by the team. It is open to students who have creative writing skills, graphic design, history, travel, reviews and several other creative skills. This term, the theme is ’Supernatural’ and the society runs every Tuesday lunch for any students who are interested, feel free to contact Persephone Walhtuch.

MLC School also hosts the Thelma Herring competition which is a yearly writing competition and goes towards House points. This year it will be happening in Term 2. It consists of a junior (Year 6 – Year 7), intermediate (Year 8 – Year 9) and a senior (Year 10 – Year 12) division. There are three categories: Short Stories, Non-fiction and Poetry. Each year a different stimulus is established, and each writing piece must be based on the stimulus. Students can enter once in all three categories.

Finally, this year Book Week is held from Saturday 17 August – Friday 23 August in Term 3 and the theme is ‘Reading is Magic’. Stay tuned for activities throughout the week to celebrate this amazing event!

For any other questions or further information, feel free to contact either me by email here or Mr Tim Curry – Head of English Department, or Ms Louise Piggott – Head of Library Services.

 – Sally Obaid (Year 12)
MLC School Literary Captain 2024