Ashton Sixth Form College recently welcomed Year 10 students from local schools for the 2023 English Festival.

Students from Rayner Stephens High School, Longdendale High School, St Thomas More RC College, Copley Academy, Audenshaw School and West Hill High School participated in various activities throughout the day.

The day began with a welcome from our Head of English, Katherine Tilling. Katherine then set them off into tasters of our English course: English Literature & Language, English Literature and English Language. 

Students were then given the opportunity to speak to two local writers, Fantasy writer Connor Irving and Poet, James Jackson. Students put forward some interesting questions to the two writers and were able to gain an insight into the world of a writer.

Students also met with current Ashton Sixth Form College English students who shared more about their experience with the courses, along with their college experience. 

Throughout the day and in between their taster sessions and Q&As, students took part in a writing competition. In the English Literature session, students were asked to write a letter to their nine year old self; Jamia Abdul from Rayner Stephens High School won this competition!

In the English Language and Literature session, was a creative writing task, who was won by a Year 10 student from Longdendale High School. And for the English Language competition, students were asked to write a dialogue in regional dialect. This was won by Arron Mistry and George Pennington from Audenshaw School.

Well Done to all competition winners! We hope all students who attended had a good day - our English department were very impressed!