Storytelling scoop

YOUNG authors . . . Bethany Shackleton and Ricky So of South Chadderton High School

POWERFUL accounts of the horrors of child soldiers have earned storytelling success for two Oldham students.

The pupils from South Chadderton School were winners in the Learning Force Inter-Schools’ English Challenge competition, where prizes included i-pods and an XBox 360.

The subject matter was inspired by a Right Words competition organised by Human Rights Watch and required the Year 10 and 11 students to research the subject and gain an insight into the lives of children forced to participate in armed conflicts across the world.

The youngsters were then asked to write a first person account of life as a child soldier.

Top prize went to South Chadderton’s Bethany Shackleton for her moving story, using flashbacks, of a child who was kidnapped as she slept and trained as a child soldier.

Bethany said: “I really like writing and thought it would be fun to enter the competition. The story took me two weeks to write — I didn’t know anything about child soldiers before we did this, but it was a very moving subject.

“I was surprised to win, but really pleased. When I leave school I would like to be an author or a journalist so this is great.”

Fellow South Chadderton pupil Ricky So took third place and Job Mukadi, from Our Lady’s RC High School, Blackley, took second. Several students from Oldham’s Our Lady’s RC High School in Oldham were also highly commended.

All students who took part were given high street vouchers and the best efforts will appear in a book. Another competition will give students the opportunity to design the book’s cover.

The English competition forms part of Learning Force, which aims to accelerate pupil progress in English and maths.

The initiative is funded by Greater Manchester Challenge, a three-year programme which aims to secure significant improvements in education for the 600,000 children in the area.

Nine schools currently participate in the Learning Force programme.

Jan Rigby, English co-ordinator for Learning Force, said: “We were delighted by the high standard of entries in the competition and by the way the students really engaged with the subject, enhancing their understanding of an important global human rights issue — as well as producing an impressive standard of written work.”