House Creative Writing Competitions 2009-2010

During the year, there have been various creative writing competitions which students have entered some fabulous responses for. These have included designing book covers and writing poetry for Poetry Day, organised by Mrs Miller in the Library; the winning poetry entries were sent off to the ‘Education Library Services.’ The House Creative Writing competitions have involved the Year 10 Literacy Leaders in setting the titles and judging entries, and students completed work started with a visiting author in a Curriculum Enrichment workshop. We have had some amazing responses from students in Key Stage 3, writing ambitiously and using a variety of techniques to move their readers.

We hope you enjoy reading some of their work, wishing a huge thank you to all the students who entered the competitions. Again, it was particularly hard for those judging to decide the winners.

Below are the winners for the following Creative Writing House competitions for:

• Write either a poem or a short story based on theme of “Time Travel.” 
• Write the beginning of a short horror story.

TIME TRAVEL WINNERS 

First Place: Georgia Harcup 7R: Armstrong

Time Travel

The door swings open, and there is a whole new world outside. Should I go in, or run away? But how can I run away from this glimpse into the future? The raging battle continues in my head, colliding with my thoughts of excitement. I take the first step into the future, and the back of my neck tingles. I sense danger, but I continue. BANG! I nearly jump out of my skin, and turn. The door is closed…….

Panic overwhelms me. It crashes into my thoughts, penetrating my senses. It cuts into me like a blade. Who shut the door? Is it safe here?

Is it as deserted as it appears? A torrent of questions pour from my mind, none of which I can answer. I wander deeper into the future, and begin to explore.

The silence disturbs me. There are no birds tweeting, no laughter, no car horns blaring. It is not peaceful, or tranquil, but eerie. It’s a bleak landscape. The hard ground is gray and cracked. There is one tree, and it is bare, stripped of all its colourful leaves. There is no life in sight. The sky is empty and dark ………… dull.

It suddenly dawns on me that this is what we humans have done to the earth, the world.

It smells musty, and I want to go home. As soon as I think the thought, I find myself on the floor outside the haunted house. When my friend dared me to knock on the door, I had no idea that would happen. Now I do. I start to run home, determined to tell the world we have to stop what we’re doing. I’m shaking, trembling uncontrollably. I’ll never ride in a car again, or drop a piece of litter, because if I do, Mother Nature will get her own back …………..

Second Place: Alexander von Sachsen-Altenburg 7R Armstrong

The Beanstalk

The question I was still asking myself at this moment was if I was ready? It didn’t matter any more though. I smiled to myself as I sat on the ‘comfy’ chair and turned the dials to 2890. Pulling the glass lever was the hardest part. As soon as I had pulled it a whirring filled my ears. Sparks danced before my eyes and as the machine spun round I started to feel dizzy. Suddenly, I saw children dancing in a garden then vanish. I recognised one of the boys. It was me.

My seat turned into a wooden stool as I zoomed through an open doorway and suddenly the machine stopped dead in its tracks. It was a whole new world but, half seemed to be very high-tech with towers as tall as the sky and old people flying in wheelchairs. One of the wheelchairs had a banner behind it saying ‘Cup, gives you wings literally’. Aliens and robots walked the street minding their own business. A flying saucer suddenly zoomed over my head but it was actually a saucer with a teacup on it.

The other half was completely different though. It seemed to be made from loads of fairy tales. A beanstalk was leaning to one side with an axe in it. I could see in a cottage window three bears eating porridge. Next to their house were some woods which seemed to go on forever. There was a tall tower with a princess in it with really long hair.

This was all too much for me so I leant on the axe which was stuck in the beanstalk. I heard a great thump as the beanstalk fell to the ground. The whole world shook and everyone stared at me. What had I done….

Joint Third Place: George Laurence 8H Nightingale

The Time Machine

I have seen everything,
how I was born,
how I die,
and how I wish I could
change it.

I saw my life in sixty
seconds, how I grew
old, and how I wish
it would never change
my age.

I saw myself pass my
driving test, how I got
my job, how I retired
and how I wish it
would never end.

I saw myself in my
last moment, seeing my
family and their last
word, I wish I would
never die.

I saw myself in sixty
seconds and that is what happened.

Joint Third Place: Charlie Sassi-Roberts 8T Churchill

Time Travel

If I could travel in time, I would.
I’d visit the past and the future.
I would listen to Churchill’s famous speech,
And go to the day when robots finally live with us.

If I could travel in time, I would:
Meet my great, great, great, great, grandparents…..
and visit the day when we get a fine Prime Minister.

If I could travel in time, I would:
Go back and ensure David Beckham scored that shocking penalty,
and England would triumph and win the World Cup again.

HORROR STORY WINNERS

I sat there waiting…

Rhiannon Jones 8C First Place Churchill

I sat there waiting; what would happen next? Would he hit me again? I waited, watching the blood trickle down my body, listening for any sign that he was in the room. I couldn’t see much, just an outline of a door and a very small window. He had been at this for hours, beating me, torturing me, abusing me then he would leave the room for a while and all I could do was wait. What would I do? Just sit and wait for him to beat me again? I had to escape, but how? The only way out was that small, little window and I was tied to a chair. Nothing to do but wait. I knew it would happen again and I knew he wouldn’t stop until I was dead. Trapped. No way out…

A cold mist…

Hannah Carney 8H Joint Second Place Nightingale

A cold mist had seeped into the room. Lydia slid further into her duvet covers, shivering violently. A quiet hiss had started through the doorway. It would not have been heard if the house hadn’t have been dead silent. Lydia whimpered in fear. She was at home alone or at least she thought she was and it was midnight.
Slowly, a ghostly white figure poked out from the darkness. It was almost transparent and had a bright, red nail. It slid further into the room. .. Then a hand crept in. Then an arm. Then a face. The sight was enough to turn the sanest people mad. Then Lydia did something she had never done in her life. She fainted.

It was a cold Winter’s day

Bradley Walters 8E Joint Second Place

It was a cold Winter’s day. The rain was falling down very fast outside. Every so often you could see lightening in the distance and flashes of light coming through the windows, lighting up the whole room.
Jamie was home alone for the first time. He didn’t know what to do so he turned on the TV and started watching cartoons. Not long after he heard a car door shut and he thought it was next door so he didn’t look. But all of a sudden, “Knock! Knock!” Someone was at the door!
Just for a moment his heart stopped beating. He jumped up and slowly reached for the door, edging forward every so often. He took one breath almost as if he was taking a breath to dive into a pool, then he opened the door.
Standing there was a figure in black from head to toe. Jamie couldn’t see anything. He asked, “Who are you?”” but there was no reply, so Jamie turned on the light and screamed…

The Figure

Ellen Watts 8A Third place Armstrong

It was a dark, gloomy night. The wind roared with anger. The aggressive trees swayed. The sky opened with a strike of lightening and a tree snapped helplessly, falling to the muddy grass. I started to run.
The cool wind brushed my face. I felt fast, fast as a cheetah. My head was filled with unanswered questions waiting to bust out: “Why were they chasing me? What had I done?” The questions kept ringing in my head. Suddenly, a clearing appeared through the trees. I felt safe. But was I?
I wrapped my arms around me, trying to keep warm. I heard something snap. The snapping started to be continuous and was drawing closer and closer. I stepped back; I looked into the distance and a dark figure stood before me…

The Forest

Libbie Budd 8R Joint Third Place Armstrong

Will was walking through the foggy forest. The moon was low and the path was hard to see. It was around midnight and the moon was full. He was coming home from a friend’s house and was not feeling too well. He wanted to get back home as soon as possible. He started to walk quicker as a shiver ran down his spine. The cold air was rushing down his body. The hairs on his neck were standing up. He began to walk quicker and quicker when suddenly he ran into something. He tripped over and fell onto the cold, hard ground.
He heard sounds coming from around him; he pulled himself up off the ground and dusted the mud of himself. He looked around but saw nothing. He then began to walk off again, not knowing he was heading back, now in a different direction. Will began to run back now and he began to get deeper into the forest. The fog was thick so he could not clearly make out where he was going. He then started to hear voices coming from behind him. Then the voices turned into screams and the screams began to get closer and closer. His breathing became quicker. Will stopped for a few seconds, only to feel breathing on his face. He was definitely not alone in this forest.

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