Pupils and staff at Leighton Park School have been busy preparing for the launch of their first book with their very own publishing house. Pupils from the School’s Creative Writing Group wanted to let the wider community read some of their work and benefit from the insights of a Quaker school.
Ken Sullivan, Head of Sixth Form, who runs the Creative Writing Group says: 'When we started the club in January it quickly became obvious that we had pupils who were talented, motivated and original, at all stages of the School. I wanted to push it as far as we could, and what could be more ambitious than our own publishing house? I didn’t have a clue how to do this, but a quick internet search and a few telephone conversations later, a plan was formed. Our PTA gave me a float to finance the project and we were lucky to find a local, environmentally friendly printer in Conservatree.'
The book titled Stories for Friends is a collection of short stories which started from Quaker values and then ran wild. The cover design, the logo, the typesetting; everything about the imprint was done by members of the group, which takes the ‘after-school club’ concept to a new level. The book is being sold within the School community and is also available on Amazon Books and Waterstones’ website. Several members of the group have already gone, or hope to go, on to study creative writing at university.
John Dunston, Head, said: ‘This is an amazing achievement for our pupils. Not only have they exceeded all expectation in the creation of their imaginative stories, but they have gone on to learn how to bring a book from the written word to a bound publication on the shelves. This is a valuable experience for our pupils which we hope they will take forward with them in their careers beyond Leighton Park School.’
During the year the pupils have learnt about publishing and book production, and with more books in the pipeline, even the job of editing is being passed over to the pupils. Look out for publications in the next year: a book of detective stories, an historical memoir from a local Quaker family and more!