In celebration of Roald Dahl Day 2017, preparatory pupils at The Marist School, Sunninghill, were invited to participate in a competition to create a new Roald Dahl character. Year 5 pupil, Jecca-Millie Cooper, was announced as the overall winner of the competition for her character ‘Gwendolyn Monroe’ and her colourful and dear friend ‘The Well Travelled Snake’.
Describing her Roald Dahl-inspired character as ‘snooty‘, Jecca-Millie’s ‘Gwendolyn Monroe’ boasts four talents including being an impeccable artist who exhibits in Florence; a private cook for Simon Cowell; a passionate violinist in the Royal Philamonic Orchestra in Austria and an heptathlete who will represent Great Britain at the next Olympics – all at the tender age of eight! Gwendolyn’s faithful friend, ‘The Well-Travelled Snake’ travels everywhere with her and in Jecca-Millie’s own words, “Gwendolyn gets all her luck from this Well-Travelled Snake”.
Speaking about participating in the competition, Jecca-Millie said: “I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this competition and being creative, which is something I really enjoy. I look forward to entering future competitions and developing my writing skills further.”
Taking inspiration from the much-loved British novelist, The Marist Roald Dahl Competition involved pupils in Key Stage 1 (years 1-2) creating a new character with annotations. Pupils in Key Stage 2 (years 3-6) were also asked to create a new character alongside a description of their design, in the style of Roald Dahl.
Overall there were three winners in the competition; Upper Key Stage 2 category and overall winner: Jecca-Millie Cooper (year 5); Lower Key Stage 2 category: Emily (year 3), who created the character ‘The Boingy Loingly Bird’ and Key Stage 1: Charlotte (year 1), with her character ‘Rosy’ who has magical powers and lives in ‘lovely Ascot’. All pupils won book tokens with Jecca-Millie receiving a notebook and sparkly pen to help continue developing her writing skills.
