‘Outside the window, I see the beautiful vibrant flowers bloom’

Discover some of the brilliant writing created in response to our Ask a Writer creative writing resource with Piers Torday.

We were excited to welcome young people from Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School, St John’s CoE Primary School and Hoxton Garden Primary School to the Ministry HQ on National Writing Day to meet the brilliant author Piers Torday.

Discover below some of the writing created by the group in response to the creative writing resource, which includes a video Q&A with Piers about being a writer and an exercise in adventure writing.

On escape from Syria

by Sadika,St John’s CoE Primary School

Outside the window, I see the beautiful vibrant flowers bloom. I see the beauty of the world that I had never seen before. I can smell the sweet, luscious flowers outside: the smell of nature. The smell of honey penetrates my nose. My heart is now full of joy and relief. Tears, which used to be full of depression and desperation, are now full of happiness. My mind is now at peace. Everything just seems so perfect, so peaceful. However, it took a long journey to get here. But my life wasn’t always this colourful and perfect. My life was once dark. My life was once dull.

A girl discovers she has cancer

by Rachel,Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School

I was locked inside myself, my mind completely blank. I couldn’t process what was happening. Me, a girl who the week before was so healthy. […] The last thing I remember is staring at the bright hospital lights and then it all went black…

I land with a massive splash in a puddle. As I stand watching the ripples, my mum calls out to me. I drift off as I have always done since I found out about my cancer. My mum is running towards me. Crying. I know she can’t help me. No one can.

The resource can be run in the space of a single lesson, is suitable for ages 9–12, and can be downloaded for free from the panel on the right.

Photography by Andrea Holck