Literary Festival

We held our first ever Literary Festival here at Pipers Corner and what a great success it was! From student events running throughout the week to guest speakers running some fantastic talks at the weekend, it was so wonderful to see so many come together all for the love of literature. 

Nicola Morgan, an award-winning author and international expert on teenage brains and mental health, spoke to Year 7 – 11 on the effects of screens and social media along with the science of reading for pleasure, wellbeing and how to manage stress. From these talks the girls learnt strategies to cope with stress and how to spot the early signs. Nicola’s books are an invaluable resource that are used regularly in Life Skills lessons.

We welcomed Patrice Lawrence, an award winning writer, whose debut novel, “Orangeboy”, won the Bookseller Young Adult Prize and the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction. Patrice held a creative writing workshop with Year 8 and 9 students for the girls  who entered the Literary Festival Short Story Competition. Patrice’s workshop she gave them all some great inspiration as they focused on how to create and develop characters. Patrice gave a very entertaining talk to year 8 – 10 students on her journey to becoming a published and award winning author, reading excerpts from the diary she kept as a thirteen year old and recounting the memorable experience of setting fire (accidentally) to her hair!

On Wednesday, the Pre Prep girls were excited to visit the Senior Library for a story time session with our librarian. The girls were fully engaged with ‘This Is Not My Hat’ by Jon Klassen, ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak and ‘Luna Loves Library Day’ by Joseph Coelho. The girls made up names for some of the characters, gave predictions of what they thought could happen next and had their own wild rumpus!

Author Rhian Ivory hosted Bucks Book Award which was attended by Year 6-9 Pipers students as well as nearly 40 students representing four local schools: Beaconsfield High; Dr Challoners Grammar; St Mary’s Gerard’s Cross and Aylesbury Grammar. Rhian Ivory, National Trust Writer in Residence, gave an inspiring and fascinating talk about her books and how she became a published author.

‘Running on the Roof of the World’, by Jess Butterworth  was the summer Core Book for Year 7 students. Jess spoke to Year 6 and 7 girls via video conference about what it was like as a child living in the foothills of the Himalaya’s and how the experience has influenced her writing using her childhood memories as inspiration for her work drawing on time spent living between UK and India. She showed us a number of Tibetan objects including a singing bowl and prayer beads, inviting questions of which the girls had many! The Year 7 students had created cushion covers in Textiles which were influenced by Tibetan designs, and loved showing them off to Jess.

Our last event was held by Joseph Coelho who spoke to the Prep Department and ran workshops with them all. Joseph was a very engaging and charismatic speaker and his workshops enabled students to develop their passion for writing poetry and the Prep Hall was buzzing with great imagery and creativity. Joseph ended the day with a story time for students and parents, reading his loving and gently story Luna Loves Library Day. The perfect end to the week.

You can view a selection of the photos from over the week here: