English News

Year 9 Metta Minds

Last Thursday we celebrated the work of the Year 9 Metta Minds – an enrichment program run for curious and capable English students. The students were introduced to the concept of Metamorphosis, exploring Ovid’s epic poem and contemporary manifestations of this concept before pursuing their own area of research and inquiry.

It was wonderful to see the creative and original pieces which they produced; from poetry and prose on growing up, the role of family and literary experiences of change to discursive responses on female beauty, the struggle for justice or the complexity of identity in a period of international warfare.

It was particularly lovely to see how engaged and inspired the students were by each other’s work. I would like to acknowledge the hard work and creativity of Ms Amy Marrero as she developed this new initiative. We hope that the independent project helped to develop the love of literature and writing in these students and look forward to developing similar opportunities for more students next year.

Betty Behan and Gwen Cockell Writing Prizes

The English Department were delighted to read so many powerful entries for these prestigious competitions. Students should look out for their work in the LUX magazine released next year as we were able to include extracts from a number of pieces. Highly commended and winning entries will also be published on Cognito.

We would like to acknowledge the recipients of these awards, and the Highly Commended entries.

• The Betty Behan Memorial Short Story Prize – Junior has been awarded to Pascale Otton (Year 8) for her evocative piece “Fabric” which used the setting of a fabric store to convey the power of memory. Amelie Singer and Ruby Sunman-Peters, both (Year 8), were Highly Commended for this award.

• The Betty Behan Memorial Short Story Prize – Senior has been awarded to Lila Eversgerd (Year 10). Her prose piece, ‘Kettle’ explores the enduring love of a mother amidst a world of social and political upheaval. Zara Perkins (Year 9) and Zoe Lindner (Year 10) were both Highly Commended for this award.

• The Gwen Cockell Prize for Creative Writing has been awarded to Helaina Travassaros (Year 10) for her powerful poems “Silly, Little Games of War” and “Villain’s Victory.” Her evocative poetry revealed the way that verse can be employed to comment on contemporary and historical politics. Georgia O’Keefe  (Year 9) and Christine Chen (Year 10) were both Highly Commended for this award.

Thank you to all the students who shared their work. We are very proud of our writing community at SCEGGS.

Jenny Bean
Head of English