Year 8 student crowned Book Mastermind winner

St Mary’s hosted the twelfth annual Book Mastermind Competition, which was open to Year 8 students. Our internal heats took place just after Easter - three of our students made it into the final, where they competed against students from the Leys. It was a great opportunity for all the finalists to show off their knowledge about their chosen books. Our question master, Liz Hurles, quizzed the contestants, who each had 2 minutes to answer questions about their nominated books in the first round and then 2 minutes for general knowledge questions in the second round.

The Book Mastermind of 2019 is Year 8 student Marina B. R. from St Mary's School! Her chosen book was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. The shield will be on display in the Learning Resources Centre until next year’s competition.

The competition was followed by a talk by renowned author Ruth Eastham. She talked about where authors get their inspiration from, and delved into how she wrote her own books. The competition concluded with a book sale, at which many students took up the opportunity to get their books signed. 

Year 7 had a brilliant time during a workshop with Ruth later in the afternoon. The girls learned about the writing process and the important role that illustrations play in the creative process to help the author visualise the setting. Ruth read an excerpt of her book Arrowhead to our Year 7 students, which formed the basis for some ‘power’ writing, a structured approach to writing that teaches students to organize their thoughts before they begin writing. They produced some amazing drafts, and we are looking forward to reading the finished stories. Many thanks to Ruth for inspiring our Year 7 students.