St Margaret’s students in Years 7 to 12 participated in the Churchie Literature Challenge on Wednesday 15 May.
The Challenge is a stimulating, challenging and competitive literary experience involving select Brisbane independent schools that requires small teams of students to read and deeply engage with several important literary texts including novels, drama, poetry and film. The theme for the 2019 Churchie Literature Challenge was ‘war’.
Eighteen students took part in four rigorous rounds encompassing essay writing, creative writing, an oral group commentary and multiple-choice questions.
St Margaret’s English teacher Mrs Kate Wiedemann said the students read widely on the challenge topic of war.
“The girls read quite diverse and often very sophisticated texts about the profound topic of war, not just about the experiences of soldiers but about fresh, new perspectives on gender, leadership, politics, history and memory.
“They all found it an enriching experience to challenge their own reading approaches and to extend their literary connections between their existing knowledge and new sets of ideas,” said Mrs Wiedemann.
Fellow English teacher and Challenge coordinator Mrs Margot Shave said it was pleasing to see the girls work collaboratively with other teams.
“The students interacted maturely, constructively and respectfully with fellow students from other independent schools to build a community of critical thinking and personal response around the important literary texts,” said Mrs Shave.
St Margaret’s Challenge participants received several prizes including:
Year 7/8
1st Place Team – Arkie Edwards, Olivia Crombie, Harriet Buckley
1st Place Individual – Oliva Crombie
Year 9/10
3rd Place Team– Emi McBride, Charlotte Hoey, Ella Woods
Year 11/12
3rd Place Team – Isabella Corby-Bakkelund, Ella Sedgwick, and Oliva Trempus
1st Place Team – Eva Campbell, Margot Davis and Tamika Tran
1st Place Individual – Tamika Tran
Congratulations to our prize-winners and all students who participated in the Churchie Literature Challenge. Continue to enjoy your reading journey!