Arvon writing week inspires English students

Published on isbi School News dated Monday 18th of March 2013

The ancient house of Totleigh Barton, deep in the folds of the Devon countryside, was filled for one creative week by some of St Benedict's finest writers. Fifteen pupils from Years 10 to 12 and their English teachers, Emma Dibb and Jayne Euvrard, took part in an inspirational Arvon gifted and talented writing week in the organisation's original country house. They were joined by tutors and professional writers, Catherine Smith and Cliff Yeats who guided them through workshops, individual tutorials and evening reading performances. The pupils wrote witty poems about cooking, character revealing monologues, stories of magical realism, pithy metaphors describing new friendships and poems of exploration and discovery. Half way through the week the group was joined by award winning novelist, Helen Cross, who read from her work and discussed the process of turning novels into screenplays.
In addition to honing their creative writing skills, the pupils learned to cook! Each evening the group sat down in the thousand year old dining room to a dinner prepared by a group of four pupils. They enjoyed salmon and spinach, pear crumble, lamb chops, a very sticky pudding and a mountain of mash to name just a few of the cooked delights.
At the end of the week the group each chose one piece to perform. These were collected in the working anthology, Pencils, Pots and a Piano. The group will now be working towards the publication of the full anthology which will hit the shelves in June. They will be launching it at an evening of reading on 17 June 2013.