09 Apr 10

Tall tales are getting taler at St Dominic's School thanks to a crash course in successful screen writing by acclained author Joe Standerline.

The intensive sessions complement existing Year 6 English lessons with a real life edge - meeting someone who earns their living writing scripts gives pupils a unique insight into the importance of language skills. Challenges throughout the sessions also encourage team work and plenty of healthy debate!

'Today we looked at how sound can inspire feelings' Joe explained. 'Pupils were given a choice of sounds to develop a story with. It's a Hollywood method - there's a beginning, middle and end. It's building on pupils' existing natural story telling ability by using a series of 5 minute exercises to keep everyone fresh and focused.'

Over a number of weeks of the programme pupils worked together on a short story, from which they wrote their own scripts to rehearse and act out to the rest of the school.