Winners of a writing project rolled out to children across Stevenage and North Herts were presented with their prizes at a ceremony on last week.
The project reached more than 3,000 children in ten schools, which saw prizes given for the endeavour, progress and best writer categories.
The ceremony held at the Nobel School's Leslie Rose auditorium was attended by Stevenage Mayor Simon Speller, MP Stephen McPartland and Herts for Learning's Tracy Warner.
Children from Almond Hill Juniors, Martins Wood Primary, Woolenwick Junior and Camps Hill Primary in Stevenage, The Grange Academy and Pixmore Junior in Preston, Preston Primary in Preston, St. Marys Junior in Baldock and Hillshott Infants in Hitchin, were all in attendance to celebrate children's writing and creativity inspired by 'Flotsam' by David Wiesner.
Chairs of governors were involved in the final decision for Best Writer by judging anonymised pieces of writing. '
'The Writing Project' is the brain child of Sarah Inman, deputy head and English lead from Pixmore Junior School in Letchworth.
Using a creative approach to developing writing, which includes art and drama, the project aims to immerse children in a wordless picture book in order to extend their vocabulary and inspire their writing.
This approach had a positive impact on the writing quality within Pixmore Junior School. The success in school inspired Sarah to firstly share it with other local junior schools last year and then, in her capacity as a Key Stage 2 moderator in 2019, with other schools in the area.
Alex Evans, Head of Pixmore, said: "Sarah's energy commitment and enthusiasm is second to none; she is a dedicated and inspiring teacher both for children and other professionals."
The project was sponsored by Edufund UK, one of it's Directors, Gareth Mottram, was also in attendance giving the prize for Year 5 and Year 6 Best Writers. Paul Wallace of David's Bookshop in Letchworth supported the project by providing the books used by all the schools.
Sarah said: "Nothing will compare to the many smiley faces we had tonight and the fact that three parents from other schools came up and said that the project had inspired their children to write. That's why I started the project, to prove that every child can write!"
The winners for best writers were Year 1 Hillshott Infants, Year 2 Camps Hill Primary, Year 3 Pixmore Juniors, Year 4 Pixmore Juniors, Year 5 Almond Hill Junior, Year 6 St Mary's Junior.
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