During Week 9 of Term 2, the well-known South Australian author, Phil Cummings paid a visit to our school to talk to us children about his life, how he writes books and what inspired him. Phil visited classes, the senior choir and a group of eager writers to share his knowledge and passion for writing. When Phil talked to Mr. Lemmey and Ms. Gillespie/Mrs. Hisers classes he discussed his life and how and why he writes books. This was truly inspirational to all of us students. On Friday, the senior choir had a private session with Phil and he sang us a song about his brother when he was in hospital. He told us that music took a big part in his writing career, and said, “Without music I would not be where I am today”. After the choir session, it was time for our whole school assembly. In this special gathering, the choir performed 3 commissioned work songs from ‘Danny Allen was Here’. The soloists were Alannah Green as Danny, Emily Murphy as Vicki, Jacintha Smith as Sam, Ashlin Petty as Mum and Ben Francis as Dad. Phil was obviously moved by this performance, for the songs are based on his life. After lunch some lucky students got a writing session with Phil. I think we all knew that writing is not easy, so meeting an author as good as Phil, his writing brilliance is truly respected. At first we sat down and wrote about the beach and what you would feel like when you were travelling there, when you got there, when you were travelling home and when you got home. He then told us to imagine this scene that he was telling us in words and the story leaded back to the beach. This taught us how to plan and get ideas for story lines. We are very grateful for Phil for coming to our school and also to the people that organized this special event. THANK YOU PHIL!
By Alannah Green & Grant Robertson

Phil Cummings Visit on PhotoPeach