MORE than 90 children from 24 schools have attended a writing retreat at Wellington School. They turned out for a morning of workshops and rehearsals before performing their own compositions to an audience.

The children worked with professional writers and editors from the publishing industry and the Golden Egg Academy. Each child was given individual time to work on their writing and the experts explained how the publishing industry works. They also had a live Skype session with the author of the successful Brightstorm and Wildspark books, Vashti Hardy.

Aaron Warren, Wellington Prep School’s literary guru and aspiring children’s author, said: “There was a tremendous atmosphere of excitement and anticipation as children created a story plan, invented characters, crafted a plot, edited their writing and chatted to Vashti on Skype.

“It was tremendously exciting to have such an array of fantastic authors from so many schools coming along – there is some serious talent around and we feel privileged to have been able to showcase some of it. Hopefully, their passion for writing has been fuelled and they will continue to create astonishing stories and charismatic characters.”

As a grand finale, the children performed their works in the author’s showcase.