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WriteOn 2022: Creativity spells success for budding student author

A story about an un-fun fair has secured a Sydney Catholic school student a win in the 2022 WriteOn Competition.

Holy Innocents’ Catholic Primary School student Samuel Phillips has been named a winner in the WriteOn competition for the second straight year, this time winning gold. Last year he won silver

WriteOn 2022 winner Samuel from Sydney Catholic SchoolsBuoyed by his win, the school has now established an “Author’s Corner” in the school library where children who love to read and write can get together to share and discuss their ideas, projects and the latest books they’ve read.

“I wanted to get gold, so I tried again and I won!” – Samuel Phillips

Samuel’s gold medal-winning story will be included in the best of WriteOn 2022 anthology. 

An annual competition of the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), in conjunction with the State Library of NSW, WriteOn asks students in Years 1 to 6 to write a 500-word creative piece based on an image.

The write stuff

A photo of a fairground games stall (pictured above) was the inspiration for Samuel’s 2022 entry.

“I wrote about an un-fun fair,” Samuel, a Stage 2 student at Holy Innocents, explained.

WriteOn 2022 winner Samuel from Sydney Catholic Schools“There are seven kids and they go to a fun fair, where they all get picked off one by one.

“They then defeat the evil wizard, Zoron, and their friends come back.” 

Samuel accepted his award at the State Library from the NSW Education Minister, Sarah Mitchell, on 12 September.

Deborah Bestulic, Principal of Holy Innocents’ Catholic Primary School, couldn’t …

October 11, 2022|

‘Like magic, I was getting A’s and B’s in maths’

Does your child struggle to reach their full potential in class? The Arrowsmith program may be the answer.

Year 6 student Amelie Kovse always struggled to keep up in the classroom until she found the Arrowsmith Program.

“I thought that I was stupid, that something was wrong with me – that I would keep failing in all of my subjects,” Amelie, now aged 15, recalled.

Then her mother heard about the Arrowsmith Program, which was coming to Amelie’s school at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary Mosman.

“Like magic, I was getting A’s and B’s in maths, English and science, compared to D’s and C’s,” Amelie said proudly.

Because of the Arrowsmith Program, Amelie’s life took a turn for the better and she can now honestly say she is succeeding in high school.

Amelie said she is keeping up with the school workload, understands the lessons and has even topped one of her maths assessments.

“Because suddenly she is achieving things on a daily basis, her self-confidence has shot up,” Amelie’s mother, Jadwiga, said.

For Amelie, taking part in the Arrowsmith Program has been life-altering and she now has big ambitions for the future. She dreams of being a scientist/biologist who finds cures for diseases, or a veterinarian.

“Arrowsmith has truly changed my life,” Amelie said. “Now I can definitely see myself going somewhere.”

What is the Arrowsmith Program?

Offered through three schools in the Sydney Catholic Schools system, Arrowsmith is best described as a cognitive strengthening program.

To put it simply, specialist teachers work with identified students to help develop and strengthen new neural pathways in their brain, in response to direct and targeted stimulation.

“Arrowsmith has truly changed my life” – Amelie Kovse 

Students most likely to benefit from this program have specific learning difficulties.

“Students may find it really hard to read, to write, to spell; sometimes …

November 9, 2020|
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