On Monday November 13, Ogbourne C of E Primary School welcomed multi-award winning author, Ruth Eastham, to speak to pupils about her journey from 7-year-old writer to published author. Author of five books – The Memory Cage, The Messenger Bird, Arrowhead, The Warrior in the Mist and Jaguar Trials, Ruth spoke about the ingredients of great writing and the objects and the settings that have inspired her stories. The children learnt that there is only one rule for writers and that is that there are no rules!
Ruth originally trained as a teacher and studied science but she has always enjoyed writing. “I did study science but that is what I talk to pupils about; you can have multiple dreams. You don’t have to follow a particular path.” Ruth’s breakthrough to becoming a published author came when she was a finalist in a BBC competition to find the next J.K.Rowling.
After speaking to Ogbourne pupils about her journey as a writer and reading extracts from her latest book, Jaguar Trials, Ruth helped KS2 children to find ideas for their own writing. The children discussed ideas using Stonehenge as a mysterious, magical setting where anything is possible: portals to other worlds, time travel, the existence of giants, even a huge domino game!
After some drama and freeze-framing the children were enabled to ‘power write’ for bursts of 10 minutes and their ideas poured onto the paper. They will have the opportunity to extend and work on these ideas in class later in the week.
Teacher and Literacy Lead, Karina Nicholson, said, “We are so lucky to have had this opportunity to take inspiration from a professional writer and it was a chance for her to see what courteous, curious and creative children we have at Ogbourne.”
Marlborough Youth and Marlborough Town Football Clubs come together
