Mrs Copp (Deputy Head, Junior School)

During the Spring Term, Year 6 have been focusing on the novel, The Kites are Flying by Michael Morpurgo, a story about hope and friendship amongst violence and grief.

As part of a project to draw out their critical and logical thinking skills and their abilities to strategically plan work and to display intellectual confidence, the girls have explored developing the use of imagery and enriched vocabulary.

The setting of the novel is at the West Bank Barrier (on the Palestinian side) and the book focuses on a journalist’s attempts to look at both the Palestinian and Israeli perspectives on the wall and the power of peace and friendship to overcome conflict.

Below are some examples of their descriptive work: 

Alice Everitt (6C)

Searchlights piercing the darkness, rooting through every corner. Guards patrolling every border, blocking all ways of escape. A pinprick of light; shining from the horizon, bathing the village with a soft, golden glow. Said, surrounded by his flock, a field of cotton wool.

Isabelle Wright (6C)

The concrete buildings are withering watchtowers leaning over the defenceless ground below. The smell of wretched, dry dust is barging its way down to my lungs, so thick, it was like pushing down on still water. The sky was a sandstorm of sorrows, drifting around, waiting for a helping hand to brush it away. Trees looked up dauntingly at the bare barriers, containing them. A mist, the fury and violence of war; there stood hope. As if it was waving its discoloured flag to say, ‘although there is war, here we stand’.

Zara Gulati (6C)

I stumbled on the uneven ground; surrounding me was darkness, sadness and separation. The clouds were grey; the air wet and damp. I felt lonely. As I walked past the great barrier, I was alarmed at seeing the intimidating soldiers glaring deeply into my eyes. The bombs were screaming as they fell down from the sky and crashed to the ground. People emerging in the distance, running as fast as they could. The screams and crashes becoming louder and louder…