Royal Hospital School (RHS) in Holbrook recently held its inaugural literary festival where they hosted Year 5 pupils from four local schools: Littlegarth, St Margaret's, East Bergholt Primary and Holbrook Primary.

A bookmark competition was held before the event, with the winning entry created by Khaleesi from Holbrook Primary School.

A printed copy of the winning bookmark was given out to all those who attended as a souvenir of the day.  

The pupils spent a fun-filled and inspiring day at RHS full of workshops, led by children's author Julian Sedgwick, famous for his books including, The Place of Memory, Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black and The Wheel of Life & Death, to name a few.

His love of Japan and China has influenced many of his books, including 'Tsunami Girl' and 'The Ghosts of Shanghai'.

Mr Mark Byam, teacher at Holbrook Primary School said; "The children loved meeting Julian and his Haiku writing class. They loved all of the activities and look forward to coming to RHS again soon."

Four workshops ran throughout the day, with a focus on Japanese culture: 

• In RHS' Library, Julian ran a haiku writing workshop, assisted by their English Department and Year 12 English pupils. 
• In RHS' Art department, the pupils got creative and a little bit messy learning about Japanese art, using their fingers to paint and mimic tsunami waves. 
• In RHS' Music department, pupils really enjoyed creating their own Japanese pentatonic music on keyboards. 
• Exciting demonstrations were also held in RHS' Biology classrooms, where pupils discovered how tectonic plates behave and what causes a Tsunami. 

Ms Jenny Stone, Head of English at RHS, said: "On the back of World Book Day last week, it was a wonderful opportunity to share our resources with members of our local community. Pupils really enjoyed experiencing senior school life and exploring our inspiring library, art, music and science departments. We aim to make this an annual event." 

Cisely from St. Margaret's School wrote in a letter to RHS; "The Science lesson was amazing – we learnt about tsunamis and tectonic plates, using biscuits and syrup as an experiment! I enjoyed every part of the day – thank you."

Miss Ruth Gitsham, Librarian at RHS added: "What a fabulous day we all had with Julian and it was enlightening to hear about his journey to becoming a writer. He talked about resilience, especially when things go wrong or in the face of disasters such as the tsunami in Japan, and he inspired the children to write some beautiful haikus."