Philip Ardagh at the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2005
Mr Down's Year 8 English group were thrilled to take part in the festival. Philip came to school in September and read the beginning of a short story. The group (guided very democratically by Philip) then decided in to set the story in Viking times and roughly worked out the continuation of the story. They then had just under three weeks to dramatise a ten minute long piece to perform in Cheltenham Town Hall. Two weeks into the project we were visited by drama expert Fiona Ross, who helped the group with various drama techniques. Five other schools with five different story endings also took part in the final performance. Philip Ardagh presented signed books and book tokens to all those who took part.
A group of Year 7 students visited the Olympus Theatre to hear Philip talk about his life and his books. Some of our students lucky enough to be called up to help Philip dramatise a story that he composed on stage.