Pupils in S1 and S2 were encouraged to participate in the BBC’s “500 Word” competition recently. This competition was devised by Chris Evans to get children excited about reading and writing, no matter what their ability. Entrants must submit a story of 500 words or less and this is now one of the most successful story-writing competitions in the world. Three quarters of a million children have taken part over the years. Pupils met with Mr Reilly in the library at lunchtime and created some wonderful stories on all sorts of different themes: sentient computers, crime stories, mysteries, and superheroes, to name but a few.

We also decided to award prizes for the best stories and held an event in the school on 22 March which was attended by some of the authors and their parents and carers. It was a very difficult choice but we eventually awarded Jonathan Hayburn first prize for his thrilling crime story. Lee McCormick was awarded second place for his moving story about evacuees and Andrew Prentice came third with his story about what happened one Thursday…A big thank you to pupils, parents and staff who attended and celebrated the exceptional contribution of all our pupils.