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Maggie and Maddie impress with their detective work!

09 February 2021  |  Jill Lundberg  |  Posted in:

Maggie and Maddie have demonstrated their super-sleuth skills after creating captivating introductions to their own Sherlock Holmes stories. The girls were joint winners in Miss Weston’s creative writing challenge which she set for her Year 8 class.  You can enjoy reading Maggie’s story here SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MATCHMAKER CASE  and Maddie’s here THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE HAMPSHIRE APOTHECARY

In the Autumn term, the class studied the detective stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring the world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes. Students spent time looking at how Conan Doyle constructed his stories – how each case would begin in a similar fashion, with Dr Watson arriving at 221b Baker Street to find Holmes interviewing a new client. As a challenge at the end of the topic, Miss Weston set them the task of writing the opening section of their own Sherlock Holmes mystery. Their goal was to mimic the style and conventions of the stories, as set out by Conan Doyle. They had to convince Miss Weston that their story was a ‘lost’ Sherlock Holmes mystery. Other than that, they were given free rein to enjoy themselves!

Miss Weston, Lead Teacher for English, said: I was really impressed by the results – the students responded with great creativity and style. There were a number of fantastic entries –  Ellie, Aimee, Caitlin, Isabelle, Edwin, Amelie, Henry and Lillyanna were all awarded Star Performers for their work. However, there were two stand out entries: ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Matchmaker Case’ by Maggie and ‘The Mysterious Case of the Hampshire Apothecary’ by Maddie. It was impossible to pick an outright winner – they were truly outstanding. Both had captured the style, language and conventions of Conan Doyle, with real flair. Their work showed maturity and a level of technical control that is highly impressive for their age.

“I’ve been so impressed by the work the students produced for this rather spontaneous end-of-term competition, that we are looking into holding regular creative writing competitions across all year groups. It is exciting to know that there is such talent out there; who knows, perhaps we could encourage the next literary sensation to pick up a pen.”

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