We began our festivities with students and staff dressing up as their favourite book and film characters; amongst the winners were the HASS teachers as the 101 Dalmatians cast (above), English staff as the ghosts and ‘live’ characters from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (including a Ghostbuster for an element of parody), the Executive Leadership Team as the College yearbook itself, and our brilliant students as mythical creatures and children’s literature icons. We had Cruella DeVille, a very realistic elf and B1 and B2 from Bananas in Pajamas, amongst many others. Our College community went to incredible efforts and raised funds for our LifeLink Project. Then mid-week, we participated in the mammoth Write a Book in a Day competition, with over 15 writing teams working collaboratively to plan, write, illustrate and publish books to raise funds for the Children’s Cancer Council. There was a vast amount of academic and creative thinking, writing mechanics and, most importantly of all, laughter. A variety of genres and styles were explored, but there was a noticeable element of science fiction, hybrid texts and magical realism. Our College is exceptionally proud of our students for not only their creative writing skills, but also their impressive ability to work as a team, listening attentively to one another and sharing their individual God-given talents.

Mai McShane
Head of English