We were very privileged to have Catherine Meatheringham, a local author, visit our school and inspire our students to use their creativity in the writing process.

Catherine shared her enjoyment of intertwining sounds and music into her writing. Kindergarten used a variety of musical instruments to emulate the sounds that a possum makes, based on her book, “My Possum plays the drums.” The children were very excited and thoroughly enjoyed the interactiveness of this book.

Year One and Two listened to the story,” Our Home,” based on places around Australia and joined in with the different sounds of the landscape, including Canberra, where the illustrator portrayed her family within the book. They completed their own home as part of a reflection on this book.

Catherine guided Years Three to Six on how to write a narrative, using a structure that also added onomatopoeia, emotions and multiple complications. The children are keen to continue this writing and will complete their stories over the next few library sessions. She spoke of incidents that had happened in her life that created the spark and inspiration for her writing, including the noises of the possums that kept her awake and provided the onomatopoeia for her book. She also explained the process from Writing through to publishing.

We would like to extend our thanks to Catherine for sharing her time and expertise with the students today. It was a worthwhile and valuable experience.

Chris Washington