Above: Sydney Russell students visited Chelsea’s Cadogan Hall to see the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in April.

On Friday 11th May, Year 8 students spent time with Cathy Forde, famous author of the novel, Fat Boy Swim, which is one of the texts they study in Year 8.  Cathy, has also written The Drowning Pond, Skarrs, Firestarter and Tug of War. She flew in from Glasgow, her home town and the setting for all her novels, especially to talk to our students  about her work.  Our budding authors listened intently as Cathy explained where her ideas come from and told them one or two gruesome stories which  inspired her to write her forthcoming novel, Sugar Coated!

Students were intrigued to know why Cathy usually ensured that her main character was a grumpy teenage boy and she surprised them when she said her inspiration came from her two teenage sons. She also believes that although all of her novels end on a positive note, she can’t bring herself to provide a stereotypical happy ending, as this wouldn’t be true to life.

The visit was organised by the English Department who hoped that students would be inspired to develop their own creative writing skills. Miss Murray said, “We’re very grateful to Cathy for coming all this way to Sydney Russell! The students all agree it was great fun and have asked her some excellent questions!  She has assured us that she’ll come back again!”

English Department

Famous Author Visits Our School

Above: Year 8 Students with Cathy Forde

The summer examinations for GCSE and A Level courses have begun and we hope that everyone is doing their very best to gain the highest possible grades. We realise that this is a stressful time for students and parents but we also know how proud everyone will be when the results are published in August and students get their results. Good luck everyone!

2007 SUMMER  EXAMINATIONS