Children across Bedford participated in a story writing competition to celebrate World Book Day.

The competition was fierce, with over 240 entries. It took place on World Book Day itself at Rogan’s Books, with finalists, their families and teachers braving the snow and ice to join in the fun.

First Class Learning Bedford, in association with Rogan’s Books, organised the competition which was a great success.

Andrew Turpie of First Class Learning opened the finals. He explained: “Story writing is often a focus of the English tuition that we provide so we wanted to generate an interest in, and excitement about, writing. We were delighted, not just with the number of stories we received but also the quality of those stories. With an amazing 243 stories entered, all of those who have made the final should know that they have done incredibly well and that we feel their stories are all exceptional.”

“We had a really difficult time choosing our finalists since there were so any fantastic stories and we’d like to encourage all of the children who submitted a story to keep writing because they all showed great writing skills,” added Rachael of Rogan’s books.

Laura Turpie of First Class Learning Bedford agreed, adding that so many of the stories submitted could have won a prize.

The winners in each age group received 3 months free tuition with First Class Learning Bedford in their choice of either English or maths with those in second and third place receiving books specially chosen and provided by Rogan’s Books.

Those assembled were treated to a recital of each story. Some stories were read by Rachael and some by Laura, with two finalists Eleanor and Elise bravely reading their own stories. Prizes were then presented by Rachael and Laura.

The prize winders were: In the 5 to 7 age group; 1st Samuel Ross, The Bad Body; 2nd Zachary Wharton The Dangerous Plot of Dumb Dick and his Robot Army; 3rd Ezarah Hollins, Rainbow Story. In the 8 to 10 age group; 1st Eleanor Palmer, Emily Wandere`; 2nd Eira Collacott, 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad….Dragon; 3rd Elise Nixon, The Adventures of Sam and Jeff. In the 11 to 13 age group; 1st Verity Edmonds, The Circle of Life; sharing 2nd Kristina Novikova, The Imaginary Cat and Lucy Barrett, Tick Tock; sharing 3rd Arielle Harrison, The Missing Boy and Jessica Wood, Bang.

It was also wonderful to see children from a number of different schools feature in the finals. Castle Newnham School, The Hills Academy, Bedford Girls School and Scott Primary School were all represented.

Thank you to all of the children who wrote a story for the competition. We enjoyed reading them all. At First Class Learning Bedford and Rogan’s Books we look forward to reading more of your work in the future and encourage you to keep on writing, keep on writing, keep on writing!

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