Jack Heath Story

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Storms

Hi my name is Kendall and I am 15. I have an 8 year old brother named David. I have a dad named Bill who works at the airport and a mum named Rachel who works in a museum. I live in Blackwood, in Australia.

It was a good day today. The 25th of April, 2030. It was the first good day in a long time. My brother and I were shooting some goals in the backyard with my dog Archey, a golden retriever laying next to us playing with his toy. I went inside to get a drink when I heard a noise in the living room. My curiosity took me to the living room when I saw the tv was left on.
I went to turn it off when the news came on.
“Weather scientists today confirmed that there is a major storm heading to Australia. It is bigger than all the previous storms.” This storm already hit China and the Philippines and now it’s aiming to hit Australia,” the news reporter announced. I ran upstairs and knocked on my mum and dad’s door as quickly as I could. I walked in seeing them still sleeping so I went to my mum and woke her up because my dad would get angry. My mum woke up and yawned while asking,
“What’s the matter?” I responded in a rushing tone.
“There was another warning signal. They said there’s a huge storm coming towards Australia”.
I ran down stairs and outside to get some important belongings and pack them in a bag while my parents were getting up and packing their belongings. David asked, “What are you doing?”
I told him, “We have to leave because a huge storm is coming to Australia and we need to get out of here.” We all jumped in the car when I realised I totally forgot about Archey. I opened the car door and ran inside. I went into the cupboard grabbed some of his food and shoved it into the bag. I opened the back door and grabbed the leash that was on the ground and clicked it on Archy’s collar. We both ran out of the house and jumped into the car and drove off. I just couldn’t believe that I nearly forgot Archey.
1 hour later
We drove past Lansdale High School and saw people hiding in classes. We looked out the window and saw dark clouds appearing and a twister following the clouds everywhere. We were a little lucky because we’re on a hill and twisters only appear on a flat surface, We still sped up just in case because this storm is like no other.
We were driving near the hill when we heard water rushing as fast as the wind so we knew something bad was going to happen. I looked through my window when I saw a huge wave coming towards me. It has turned into a tsunami. All of a sudden we got hit by the water and we started spinning around and crashing into things. I blacked out.
Chapter 2
I could finally start to hear the wind whistling and see the dark clouds nearly covering the whole sun. When I woke up everyone was still in the car seats, held in by the car’s seatbelts. I checked up on my parents and my brother and they seemed to be okay but the car wasn’t. The car was all smashed and was floating amongst hundreds of objects. I grabbed as many bags as I could from the car and put them next to my parents and tried to wake them up. I then grabbed Archey and sat him down on a floating object.
Dad woke up first, then my mum, then my little brother. We grabbed the bags and swam out of the water to land. We all were exhausted and too tired to walk but we had to get to the airport to move somewhere safer for the mean time.
We’ve been walking for hours when we came across an abandoned petrol station. No owners appeared to be around and the door was left open. We felt guilty but left there with some water bottles, packets of chips, treats for Archy and Anzac biscuits. We forgot today was Anzac Day so we had a minute of silence to thank the soldiers who had fought in war for our country. We finally arrived at the airport and it was completely full. We waited in line but it moved really slowly so we started getting worried because the storm was getting closer. My dad and brother walked around looking for a quicker way to get on a plane, but without luck. The line moved and we were finally at the front. A tall man said in a deep voice,
“Sorry the plane is full. You will have to wait till the next flight comes.” Kendall’s dad then asked
“When is the next plane?”
The man answered, “ Five hours.” Dad was visibly upset and didn’t know what to do.
Chapter 3
My family was having a discussion about what to do next and how we’re going to get on the plane. We were waiting around for a while when a family walked off the plane. Dad had an idea. We sneakily walked on the plane taking their spot. The plane was leaving while we were watching the storm take over Australia. We regretted taking their spot but we wanted to be safe.
Allora

Jack Heath Story

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The Mary Celeste 
November 6th 1872
9:30pm

Mother burst into my room.
“Sophia, honey, get to bed right now! We have to get up at 9 tomorrow!” said mother “Why mother? Is everything okay?” I asked in a worried voice.
“Your father, you, me and 10 other people will be sailing to Gibraltar to drop off some supplies that’s all and everything is fine Sophia,” said mother as she tucked me into bed.
“Okay. Goodnight Mother. See you tomorrow!” I said and slowly closed my eyes.
“Goodnight Sweetheart,” said mother as she closed my bedroom door and walked out.

November 7th 1872
8:45am

The sound of birds singing and people chatting always wakes me up but for me it means everyone is happy and everything is fine. I opened my window and took a few deep breaths and enjoyed the morning breeze.
Father opened the door.
“Sophia. love go change into a dress. I don’t want you to look like your a poor little girl,” said father with his deep voice and closed the door behind him.
“Yes father,” I said and got changed.
November 7th 1872
9:00am
New York Harbour
The water splashed against the huge boat.
“Sophia, I want you to go on the ship first. it’s your first time going on a ship and your father and I want you to feel special.”
“Really!? Can I actually go first?” I said in an excited voice and jumped around.
“Yes,” said Father and laughed in a deep voice.
Mother smiled at me and gave me a hug.
“I know you always wanted to go on a ship and explore. That’s why we are taking you with us,” said Mother.
“Thank you Mother. Thank you Father!,” I said and gave them a huge hug.
“Anything Sophia,” said Mother and Father.
I ran up the ramp to get onto the ship and turned around to Mother and Father. They were… Smiling! I thought to myself they are the best parents anyone could ever have.
One of the sailors who smelt like fish came up to me and said in a scary voice,
“Is your mother and father coming with us?”
“Of course they are. That’s the only reason that I’m on here right now!” I said in a angry voice.
A man with a bushy beard came to me and it looked like he was about to…
Slap me…
The man grabbed my hand and gave me a really hard slap on my face and said
“Don’t you ever say that ever again! Do you hear me!?”
Mother saw what was happening and rushed up and said,
“WHATS GOING ON?!”
The two men explained what happened and was pointing at me as if I did something really bad, but I just got mad…
Father came up the ramp and heard the shouting and yelling.
“WHATS HAPPENING? WHY IS EVERYONE YELLING AND SHOUTING!?”
Mother tried to explain to father what’s happening but the men would start talking and shouting again.
Father grabbed the two men’s wrists and pulled them down the ramp and pushed them into the deep shore and said,
“Don’t you ever touch or talk to my daughter ever again! Do you hear me!?” And walked up the ramp.
“Sophia, are you okay honey!?” Father and mother asked in a very worried voice.
“I’m fine I guess” I said in a embarrassed voice and walk down the ramp and sat against the jetty.
Father looked at mother and said
“Her day got ruined… I’m going to go see her and see if she is okay”
“I know and don’t go see her right now I think she wants some alone time” Said mother and sighed.
The water splashed against my toes. I looked at the calm sea but I know inside of wasn’t clam. A tear rolled down my soft cheek and landed on my arm.
“Why did it have to be me?” I asked myself in a small voice.
A boy around my age sat next to me and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah I’m fine…I guess,” I said as I shrugged my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” the boy asked.
“It’s a really long story…”
“Oh… what’s your name?”
“S…S…Sophia what’s your name?”
“That’s a nice name. My name is Jack!”
“I think I should go see Sophia,” said mother to father.
Father didn’t say anything. He just nodded. Mother walked down the ramp and headed towards me and sat against the jetty.
“Well I think I should go now,” said Jack as he got up and ran off.
“Bye Jack. It was nice talking to you!” I shouted.
“Back right at you!” Jack called back and disappeared.
“Who was that?” asked mother in a clam voice.
“That was Jack. He saw me sitting here so he came up to me and sat with me. We talked for a while before he left,”
“That’s nice but are you okay?” Mother asked.
“Yes mother,”
I got up, walked to the ramp, put one foot on it, took a deep breath and walked up, I saw father talking to one of the sailors but before I could say anything father turned around and saw me. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. Father came up to me and got down on one knee and said,
“Is everything alright?”
I didn’t say anything and walked into the dining room and sat down on the chairs. Then I heard, “The ship is ready to go!”
I felt the boat shake and move slowly.
“We are actually leaving New York,” I thought to myself.
I got up and walked towards the rails and watched the water crashing against the huge ship. I tried to bend down and feel the water but the rails were too high. Someone came up to me and put their hand around me but I couldn’t work out whose hand it was. I wanted to look but it was awkward. I heard a boy’s voice,
“It’s okay.”
That voice was so familiar but I just couldn’t work out who it is was. I couldn’t wait any longer. I really want to know who it was so I turned around and it was… Jack!
“J…Jack! It’s you!” I said as tears fill my eyes.
“Yeah it’s me,” said Jack knowing that I was going to cry and hugged me really tight but not too tight.
Mother saw what was happening but she didn’t do anything. She knew that I had Jack by my side even though I just met him today. Jack wiped my tears with his sleeve and said, “You have me when you’re down,”
“Dinners ready!” Shouted the cook.
Jack and I hurried to the dining room so we can have the best seats but when we got there everyone was ready to eat. Jack and I quickly sat down.
“Let’s eat,” said Father.
After dinner everyone went to their beds and fell quietly asleep except me. Everything was sooo quiet. All you can hear are the waves crashing against the boat. My eyes felt really heavy. I couldn’t stay awake any longer so I closed my eyes and in less than 5 minutes I was asleep.
– Alka

FRINGE FESTIVAL

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Fringe Festival am at last able to post the movie that our students created about our Fringe Festival. This was an event that happened in term 2. Our students created a performance, practised until they were experts, created a workshop for their audience, designed posters and tickets and encouraged students in the school to be involved. Our class worked with Mr. Z’s to create this extravaganza. The engagement of students and level of responsibility shown was a delight to see. It was such an exciting day. I hope that you enjoy watching our movie. It is a big file so it may take time to download.

Jack Heath Story

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Trapped

Hi my name is Maddie Rose Simpson and I am 11 years old. This is my diary of my dad getting trapped in the mines.

I live in Australia in a small town called Sovereign Hill which is in Ballarat. In my family I have a younger sister named Mackenzie who is 4 years old. My Mum is called Linda. She is 36 and works as a chef. She owns one of the best restaurants in Sovereign Hill. My Dad’s name is John and he works in the mines. He is 38.

__________________________________________________
Chapter 1 1882…. Day 1 Tuesday December 12th

It was a sunny day in Sovereign Hill. The birds were singing the sun was shining. It was such a beautiful day. I was lying in bed looking at all the birds singing and dancing around when I heard a loud voice scream, “Maddie, get up and get ready for school.” So I got out of bed, got dressed and headed to the kitchen.
As I was walking down the hall, I could hear my mum and dad talking. “ I wonder what their talking about?” I said. I quietly walked to the door, crouched down and put my head on the ground to listen to their conversation through the little gap. I could hardly hear anything so I put my head closer, when I heard Mackenzie yell, “What are you doing?”I turned around and stood up and said, “It’s none of your business!” She looked up at me turned around and headed back to her room. After that I moved to the kitchen to have breakfast. I sat at the table and ate my toast. After I finished I went to pack my bag for school. Then I saw dad come out of his room with one big bag and a mini bag on his back. I saw him about to open the door when I yelled, “Stop stop, please wait.” He dropped his bags and looked at me. I ran towards him and gave him a big hug. As I was hugging him I just remembered that today he was going to work in the mines. I let go and helped him with his bags.
__________________________________________________
Chapter 2
My mum, my sister and I walked my dad to his carriage. I gave him a big hug before he left. We waved goodbye and then he was gone. I went back inside to get ready for school. I grabbed my bag and waited outside for my mum and my sister. As I was waiting I saw some men wearing the same clothes and were all heading in the same direction. In the background I heard the door open and loud stomps walking towards me. Then I heard my mum say, “You ready Maddie?” I turned around and nodded. As we were walking to school I saw the same men wearing the same clothes and all heading in the same direction. In my head I was still thinking, “Why are they wearing the same clothes? Maybe it’s dress the same day?” I went up to my mum and asked “Mum why are they wearing the same clothes?”
“They’re heading to the mines where your dad is,” mum said. “Then why are they wearing all the same clothes?” I asked. “Usually when you’re going to work in the mines you have to wear something comfortable and appropriate for mining, so most of the men usually wear the same thing,” mum explained.

After about 10 minutes we finally reached school. We walked up the rocky hill and opened the gate. I said goodbye to my mum and sister and headed to my classroom. I opened the door and walked inside. As I was putting my bag down I saw my two best friends Ava and Aubrey sitting on the table. I went over to see what they were doing. I asked “What are you two doing?”
“We’re reading the newspaper”. I walked around the table to have a look. I started to read the first sentences when the bell rang.
__________________________________________________
Chapter 3
Later on that day I was at my table gazing through the window and hoping my dad was going to be okay. “RIINNNNGGGG” the home bell went. I grabbed my bag and headed out the door. I ran down the rocky hill and saw my mum. I ran towards her and gave her a big hug. I looked up. She looked very sad and disappointed. I asked, “What’s wrong?” She just smiled and started to walk home. As we were walking I was trying to figure out why she was so sad and disappointed. I was wondering if I upset her or if there’s something going on that I don’t know. When we got home mum opened the door and walked inside. I followed her and saw my grandma, grandpa and my little sister Mackenzie sitting in the lounge room all looking sad. I sat down and asked, “What is going on?”
My grandma replied and said, “ This morning at 5:30 am some water managed to leaked into the mines and has flooded the area where the miners were.”
“Ok but why are you guys sad though?” I looked at my grandma and I could tell what was wrong by the look of her face. My dad was in the mines. I felt a tear drop fall down my face my heart stop. I looked up at everyone and ran into my mum’s arms and balled my eyes out.
_________________________________________________
Chapter 4 Wednesday Day 2
The next morning my mum and I went down to the town hall to buy some food. All the ladies were wearing their nice dresses and were dancing everywhere. I wondered how they could so happy. I went up to one of the ladies and asked “How can you be so happy?”
“The 41 miners have all survived.” I felt my mouth drop. I ran to my mum and told her. Then we went into a cafe and had some lunch.

After we had finished we left the cafe. When we were walking down the street the same lady I spoke to a few minutes ago looked very sad. In fact everyone looked sad. We went back home and headed I straight to the kitchen to put the food away and the went to my bedroom. In my bedroom I laid down on my bed in silence. A few seconds later I heard a knock on my door. “Come in,” I yelled. The door opened and I saw my sister Mackenzie in the doorway. “You can come in you know.” Mackenzie laid on my bed beside me. I couldn’t help thinking about my dad. I turned around a looked at Mackenzie. She fell asleep right next to me. I wonder how she’s feeling about this situation. I wonder if she knows about our dad and the water leaking into the mines and I wonder how she sees it from her point of view.
__________________________________________________
Chapter 5 Day 3, The saddest day of my life
The next morning I woke up next Mackenzie who was still asleep on my bed. I walked into the kitchen. “Morning Maddie” mum said. “Morning,” I replied. I was about to sit down at the table when mum asked if I could get the newspaper from the letterbox. I went outside to collect the paper when I saw a letter on the ground. I bent down, picked it up off from the ground and opened the letter. It said,“Dear family, I wrote this letter for you guys because as you may have heard some water has leaked into the mines. Unfortunately I won’t make it back but I’m wishing you guys the best and I hope you have the best time of your life, love John”.
“Hi my name is Fred. I am one of the 5 men
who survived the leak in the mines. Before John died he asked me to deliver this message to you guys. I am so sorry for your loss. My Heart dropped. I felt my eyes start to water. I slowly walked inside but was still staring at the letter. I walked into the kitchen where my mum was. “Maddie are you alright?” mum asked. I looked up at her with tears dripping from my face. I handed her the letter. I was staring at her face and saw a tear drops dripping down her face. She looked down at me and and we both gave each other one big hug.
__________________________________________________

Chapter 4 In the future/ Monday
About 4 years later we moved house. We now live on a farm. We have horses, sheep, chickens and cows. I am now in high school and Mackenzie is 8 and is in primary school. Everyday we go to the mines where our dad died and put flowers there. We haven’t forgotten him and we never will.

End of dairy 🙂
Ella k.c

Jack Heath story

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Sarah M.

The story of my life
Today I woke up knowing that this is my first day of school and Elizabeth was coming to my house extra early. I heard a knock on the door. It was her. We have been best friends since we were very little. I picked up my bag tightly, “Bye mum. See you after school.”
~~~

Chapter 1

Elizabeth and I were walking back to class when we heard two teachers whispering. I knew something had happened and of course Elizabeth had to eaves drop. We couldn’t hear much through the wall but we could hear footsteps coming closer and closer to us.We ran as fast as we could. Before I knew it, I had tripped over my shoelace.

“Audrey what are you doing?” the woman ask in a strange voice.

“I’m just tying my shoelace up.”I said, shivering in fear.

The woman turned around and started to walk the other way. I was relieved.
Later on that day our whole school had to meet up for an assembly. Everyone was confused. One of the teachers walked up on stage. I didn’t know what was going on at all. She took a deep breath. “Today, Darwin has been bombed up by the Japanese.” As she spoke her voice was trembling. She kept talking about the situation for a good ten minutes. She said because the event is very recent, everyone musn’t say a word about it.

After school, I walked home and opened the front door, only to see my mum in tears. I asked her what was going on. But she wouldn’t reply. “Where’s dad?” I said.
“He’s been taken away by the government for being Japanese,” she said, as she wiped her eyes. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I still thought, somehow, he was going to come back home. I ran upstairs throwing my bag on the ground and just layed on my bed. Charlie, my dog, was running behind me. I picked him up and held him tight. He is an older dog and I love him lots .My parents knew I would be lonely being the only child in the house and so many years ago we got Charlie as a puppy.

Chapter 2
I hadn’t seen my dad for a long time now. I’m still getting used to not having him around and I knew there was nothing I could do to get him back.
As I was packing for school one day, I heard a massive sound. My ear drums started ringing.It kind of sounded like a gunshot. I ran downstairs to ask my mum what was going on. She looked worried but told me that everything was fine.

Chapter 3
Mum was just about to drop me off to school but then seeing that our whole school and houses had been completely destroyed she didn’t . I felt shivers all through my body and I was shaking uncontrollably. Mum and I turned to face each other.

I hadn’t gone to school for about three weeks and I hadn’t seen any of my friends or my dad. It’s been very weird not being able to see Elizabeth and my other friends but hopefully they are okay. It was pretty scary to see the houses and the school demolished. My mum told me not to worry and to be calm but the thought of war being close was scary.
I couldn’t stop being worried on what was going to happen next.
I felt like nothing would get better. I didn’t know how long this was going to go for. Mum and I sat at the kitchen table. She picked up a piece of paper and pen to start writing a little message to dad. After we both finished she put it to the side of her. I could see that see was very upset.
Many days had gone by with still no school and being locked inside my house. I did feel alone at times with just me and my mum.

Chapter 4
One morning I woke up early to see my dog Charlie running around my bed. Today was my 13th birthday. It was kinda weird my mum hadn’t discussed my birthday. I didn’t want to say anything because a lot was going on. After I had I got changed, I ran straight down my stairs. “ SURPRISE. “ My hands were shaking of shock. I couldn’t believe everyone was here. After everyone left it was just Elizabeth, Anna and I. They were staying for a sleepover. all the girls ran upstairs to get the beds ready. The night went really quick. We played games until 3:00am in the morning and we finally fell asleep. I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
~~~
Chapter 5
Anyway that was 8 years ago. Life has been getting better. I’m still best friends with Elizabeth and we still hang out.The government had let my dad of the internment camp. Some weeks I get to see my dad but my parents had gone their seperate ways.

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MISSION FAILED: WILL GET EM NEXT TIME
Year 2022

Larz was enjoying his holiday in Hawaii. “Ahhh this is the life” he said. Unfortunately his holiday was stopped by a loud ringing of his agent badge. “Aargh JESUS!!” he screamed. He opened it, hearing Jacob’s voice. He had to go on another mission. “Again! Aargh”.

He meets up with the rest of the team. They are Tyson, Cody, Max and of course our captain Jacob. He was saying to us that we had to go and hunt down Isis and kill them. Larz’s reaction was, “Really, it had to be Isis. Why couldn’t it have been an abandoned ice cream shop?”
Then Jacob said, “Shut up Larz. Stop sooking about it.”
“Yes sir”.

We jumped onto the speed boat and in a split second hit hyper speed and we were shooting across the water. “ZZZOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!!” Larz said, “HAVE MERCY!!!!” The next thing you know we ran into Han Solo and he said, “Chewie time to hit the hyper drive”.

But then Larz wakes up, “Where’s Chewie?”
Tyson said, “What the hell you on about.”
“Hey no time to argue,” says Jacob.
“We’re here!” Cody says. We jump out of the boat to find the hideout.

As we walk on Tyson spots the hideout and we follow a group of people walking together. We sneakily follow them to the hideout: An old abandoned hospital.

People are about to enter behind us and Larz says, “Everyone follow me” so we hid under a “white van”. Larz makes a comment about Brandon. “One time Brandon exploded eating McDonald’s” and then Larz started laughing so Max whacked Larz on the face so he would shut up but then Larz shouted out, “Ouch”.

“We have been spotted. I repeat, we have been spotted,” said Cody so we jumped out from under the car and grabbed our guns and pointed them saying, “Freeze and get down the floor.”

But then one of them shouted out, “Aluacaba!”
We ran out shouting, “RUN RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!!!” We all made it out except Jacob our leader and also Tyson’s best friend. The mission was a failure so far but we still had to continue with our mission.

The End

A good effort Jacob.I can see that Justin D’Ath has had an influence on you.
Your story had more detail than the original. The cliffhanger at the end left me wanting to know more. Well done. You are qualified to enter into the Jack Heath award.
I would like you to read at least two more Justin D’Ath books that you have not read before. Remember to record them.
Try to get a copy of Two Wolves by Tristan Bancks

Look at Michael Gerard Bauer
Watch these two clips.


Find one of Bauers books to read.
Well done Jacob

Rich but poor

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This is Jess….
Jess is 12 years old. Jess lives with her mum, her dad, her older sister Elly and her younger twin brothers. She lives in a massive mansion in the city.

It was a beautiful sunny day. Today Jess and her family are going to the beach for a picnic and a swim. As everyone was getting ready Jess thought to herself what she was going to do on such a beautiful, hot, sunny day. “Come on everyone,” shouted Jess’s mum as she was walking down the stairs. They all hopped in the car and off they went. While they were driving Jess’s father put the roof down. The wind was hitting their faces like driving in a race car at four hundred miles an hour. When they arrived everyone raced down to the water. Elly and the twins were already neck depth into the water and Jess was slowly taking her time walking into the soft sand were her toes got tickled by the little shells and stones. When Jess finally got to a spot that was just perfect she laid out her towel, put her umbrella out and grabbed her ice tea and started to sip. After all of that her mother and father were still getting everyone’s lunch, drinks and chairs out of the car.

A few hours later….
As the day went by the sky was going from blue to black. The day was coming to an end. On the way home the wind was howling and the trees were screeching. Jess was not sure what was going on. Maybe a storm? Anyway as we got home all of the butlers, maids and chefs were running around screaming and pack up their belongings. “Oh master we are all so very sorry but we have all quit our jobs there is a massive wind storm coming and there’s only one last boat to Melbourne”.
“WHAT,” screeched Jess’s father. “Right Elly go help the twins pack and Jess go to your room and start packing and i’ll go start packing right away.”

Jess was wondering what was going on. Was it all a dream? “Come on Jess you haven’t even started were leaving in 20 minutes,” Jess’s mother said. Nope, definitely not a dream. As Jess was packing she found a few photos one was her when she was a baby, another was with her family on a picnic and another she was with all her friends celebrating her 10th birthday looking at the photos left tears stinging her eyes. It’s no fair. Jess said aloud to herself we never do these types of things anymore. Quick quick she thought to herself. As the storm was coming closer and closer Jess could see the trees swaying and dust everywhere. They all raced outside to the car. Father fired up the engine then off they went. I was so scared but so excited. We were going to live in Melbourne and we were probably going to be the richest people there.

As we arrived there were so many people. We grabbed our bags and ran onto the massive boat. We were halfway there and the storm was coming closer and closer this way. “Look out,” someone screamed as a big barrel came rolling down the boat and knocked a few people off. “Are we going to go help them?” said a lady with a big feather hat. “No we can not go back if we go back then the boat will capsize because we are fighting against the storm,” said a crew member. Now the boat was rocking from side to side as more people were falling over board.

“Noooooo,” was the last thing Jess heard. When she awoke Jess was lying on a stack of hay where the boat was nice and calm now. Jess saw four heads looking at her was slowly recognizing them. My dad, Elly and my twin brothers. “Where is mother,” Jess said faintly. “Ummm well we are all very sorry sweetheart but we fought and fought but we couldn’t keep her any longer and the other thing is that all of our money fell overboard,” exclaimed father. –Sobbing and crying– . “But I did manage to save some money for a little cottage just down the road and then we can just stay there until, well until we have enough money to move back home”.

They went into the cities land agent and bought the cottage as they arrived there were flowers blooming everywhere, the bees were buzzing and there was a blond labrador dog running about chasing the butterflies. Jess ran up to the dog she looked at his neck to try and find a collar. But there wasn’t one so Jess ran up to her father and asked if they could keep and name the dog and Jess’s father said yes. Jess ran back up to the dog and asked him what he would like to be called the dog just barked. Jess came up with a list of names that night while all warm and cosy in her brand new bed.
_ _ _ _ _ _
| Dog names |
| Banjo |
| Buddy |
| Charlie |
| Buster |
| Chester |
| Marley |
| _ _ _ _ _ _ |

In the morning Jess sat up looked at the dog and read out each name on the list…. Banjo, Buddy, Charlie, Buster and then Chester when she read out that name the dog was wagging his tail and barking. Jess said “I think I’ll call you Chester then.”

Later that day when Jess was playing with Chester she heard the doorbell. she yelled out, “be there in a minute.” They rang it again. “Wait a second.” Then they knocked on the door.

Jess stomped over to the door and said, “You need to hold your horses la…dy.” Then Jess nearly fainted. “You look just like mother,” Jess said. “Ummm well hi,” said the lady with the big hat and the brown leather briefcase. “Jess who is at the door?” said Jessica’s father while he came rushing to the door “you look just like my …. It couldn’t be.”
“Be what?” the lady said.
“Oh never mind,” said Jess’s father.
“Do I look familiar? Yes well that’s because I’m”… before the lady could finish Elly and the twins ran up to her and gave her a big hug. “Hello children,” said the woman. “Are you”…. Before Jess finished she ran up to her mother and gave her a hug. “And also look what I found,” said Jess’s mother. “All of the money,” Jess’s father shouted with glee.

“Ok so where are we going now?” asked Jess’s mother. “Well now that we have all of our money I guess we could move back home.”
“As like home home the USA,” Jess said.
“Yes,” said Jess’s father. They all moved back to the USA then lived happily ever after.

By Brianna

Jack Heath Story

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Evelyn’s Great Granddaughter

I woke up with excitement pumping through my body. Why? You may ask, well let me tell you. Today is my birthday, on the 15th of June. This is also the day that my great grandma Evelyn and great grandpa Nicholas died. It was a tragic story, they both died happy and together, so that is ok. But right now, I’m heading downstairs. When I get down the stairs, I see a heap of people, some who I don’t even recognise. They are probably just distant relatives.

“SURPRISE!” They all yelled simultaneously. I jumped back in fright. Suddenly, I am swamped by gifts and cards.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA!”

I had to block my ears from the amount of noise, but when they adjusted, I uncovered them.

“Happy Birthday sweetheart,” my mum says. I smile at her and then see my eight siblings bounding down the stairs.

We have quite a large family, you see. We have my parents, Austin and Olivia, who are both 45 years old. Then there is the oldest child, Caitlyn, who is 18. A year younger than her are the twins, Bob and Fred, who we call ‘Double Trouble’ or ‘The Witch twins’. Why we call then those names? Well, let’s just say that they set the old lady next door’s underpants on fire. I giggled at the memory. After them, there is Jeremy, who is 15 years old. Then there is me, Laura, today I am turning 13. Then there is the triplets, Sapphire, Scarlett and Sam, who are 6. Yeah I know right, huge family. Well, welcome to the Butler family.

I am surrounded in a group hug by them and then even more presents are stuffed in my face. So let’s see, there is one, two, three, four- I’ve already lost count. So, I sit down on the couch. As I do this, I see a picture from 34 years ago. It’s a picture of Evelyn, Nicholas, my great grandparents and my mum. From what I’ve heard about them, they are great people. I turn my attention back towards my family and friends. Putting a normal size present on my lap, I notice that it is from one of my best friends, Mavournee. I open it to see a picture of us from when we first met. It was at the beach and we happen to just run into each other. We’ve been inseparable ever since. It was wrapped in a cloth, protecting it from dust and from breaking. It also as a heap of came in it.

“Thanks, Mave” I said, hugging her from the side.

“You’re welcome Laura,” she replied in that heavy English accent.
I then opened more of my gifts, I got a giant teddy bear named Gavin, a LOAD of candy and chocolate. Some makeup, and beauty products. And some things like bath bombs and bath salts. All of these were from my friends Crystal, Cecilia, Esme, Renè, Lila and of course Mavournee.

My family all got me one huge present, so I know it must be expensive. They handed me a box, about the size of one to fit……

“ AN IPHONE 6?!” I screamed. Mum and Dad Smiled at me. Caitlyn, Double Trouble and Jeremy bought me a phone case that was covered in emojis. And then the triplets gave me a new cover for my iPad, it was just a plain gold one that had the Eiffel Tower on it.

For a few more hours we had a party, and then out came the birthday cake. it was a double decker chocolate cake with cremè in the middle, sticking the two cakes together. it was mouthwatering, the taste of the melting chocolate cascaded down my throat. I moaned at the taste.

“Can we watch a movie, L?” Sapphire asked.

“Of course, Phire” I responded, using my nickname for her. She then picked out one of my favourite movies, ‘The Titanic’. Why I loved this movie? You ask. Well, it is because Evelyn and Nicholas were on this ship, and miraculously survived the crash.

It is now the time in the movie when the crash happens.

“Jack, this is where we first met,” Rose says, on the movie.

“Jack, this is where we first met,” Bob says in a girly voice.

“Oh Rose, I’ll never let go,” Fred replies, in what was meant to be the voice of Jack. Then the make kissy faces at each other. Everyone laughs at them, including the ‘responsible’ parents. Sometimes, I swear our parents are just teenagers dressed up as adults.

To say this was the best birthday ever is an understatement.

————————————————————————————-
Most of the people left. But Mavournee, Crystal, Lyla, Renè and Esme stayed for a sleepover. Right now, we were playing truth or dare.

“Truth or Dare, Laura,” Lyla says, pointing at me.

“Truth,” I say confidently.

“You have to tell us who you like” she says with a grin.

“I meant dare” I say quickly.

“I dare you to answer the question” she says evilly.

“Wonderful” I mutter with sarcasm laced in my voice.

“Oh I know who it is” Mave says.

I give her a glare but she still says…..

“It’s Jack West “

All the girls giggled at me. I blushed with embarrassment, my face probably looked like a tomato at the moment.

“Is it actually?” Crystal asked seriously.

I nodded, too embarrassed to say the words.

“Yeah,” I say, “ It is”.
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The next day I got ready for school, it was Monday. Monday was my least favourite day. I got dropped off by Bob and Fred because they go to the high school across the road with Jeremy. Caitlyn graduated last year, and the triplets are in pre-school. I walked into the school, noticing Esme and Mavournee waiting at my locker, something that happens everyday. Esme, Mavournee and I had maths as our first class, while Crystal, Renè, Lyla and Cecilia had German, our language we learned at the school.

“Hey, guys” I said with a wave and smile.

“Hi” they said back simultaneously, then giggled.

They are so weird, was the only thought that ran through my mind.

As we walked towards class number 12, I heard footsteps behind me. I looked and saw Jack. Yes, as in my crush, Jack West.

“Hey, Laurs” he said, using the nickname he has used ever since we were little. We have known each other as long as I remember, probably from the age 5 or 6.

“ Hi Jack” I replied with a smile.

“ Don’t you have maths with Esme and Mave?” He asked.

“Yeah, there right-” I went to point at them but only to find that they were gone.

“It ok, I’ll walk with you. I have that class anyway.”

I know, I went to say, but I didn’t want to sound like a stalker.

We then walked to class, together. I never thought this moment would happen, but here I am. Look at me, I sound like a crazy stalker, I chuckle at the thought.

Suddenly, the loud, ear-piercing bell rang. It kind of sounded like a little girl screaming when they see a monster under the bed.

Jack and I looked at each other, then dashed towards the class. We weren’t very far away from the door, so we would be fine.

The door to the class was open, so we walked straight in. Because it was the last week of school, we didn’t have to do much school work. I sat down with Esme and Mavournee, who wiggled their eyebrows at me.

“What?”

“ Jack totally just walked you to class!” Esme said, practically jumping up and down in her seat.

“A sign that he likes you,” Mavournee finished for her.

“ And since when are you a love expert?” I asked.

“ Ever since I saw that video on YouTube,” she said smugly. I whipped out my new phone and went onto the YouTube app.

“Which one was it?” I asked, handing her the phone to type the title of the video in.

“This one,” she handed me the phone. The video started playing.

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So, this is proof that YouTube isn’t helping me, at all. I then decided that I would do this myself.

It was now lunchtime, and I was sitting with my friends at our table in the cafeteria,

“Look who it is” Lyla says, pointing behind me. I turned in my seat to see Jack West walking with his friends, Ben North, Johnathan East and Nick South. They sat down at our table, because we had four spare seats left.

“Hey, Laura,” Jack said. The other boys nodded at us and started eating their lunch. I had a cheese sandwich. However when I went to eat it, Jack stole it from me and ate it himself. Anger filled me..

“ HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY SANDWICH, JACK JASPAR WEST?!” I whisper/yelled. I may have liked him, but no one, and I repeat NO ONE, takes my sandwich. I gave him my hardest glare and turned away from him, never talking to him again. Well, at least I tried not too.
Eleanor Kenny

Jack Heath Story

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The Last Of Me.

Chapter 1

Hello I’m Aubrey-Lee Johnson. I’m training for the next Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. I live in Sydney, Australia. I am a blonde haired, blue eyed, 20 year old woman and I run in the 100m race. I have been training for many years now and I am very excited for next year’s Olympics. Meet my coach Mackenzie. She is a brown haired, green eyed, lovely lady. She is 47 years old and also lives in Sydney, Australia as well.

 

Chapter 2

I got out my car and walked up the stairs to meet her and there she was waiting for me.  I said, “Hello Kenz. It’s lovely to see you.”

She responded with, “It’s lovely to see you too.” We then walked down to the race track. I put my stuff down and went for a slow jog around the track. When I had finished I did some stretches and then Kenz and I did our normal training routine.

 

Chapter 3

Kenz then asked me when we had finished, “Do you want to go and get a coffee?” I replied with a very quick,“Yes.”  I had been craving coffee the whole training session so we both hopped in our cars and went to Starbucks. When we got there we ordered coffees and both got a sandwich and sat down and chatted. Kenz started talking to me about how I was doing at home with my training there. I told her that I was doing great and I had been doing everything she had told me to do.

 

Chapter 4

We both left to go home. I live at my mom’s house because my mom and dad split up when I was 6 years old because my dad tried to kill her. He is in jail now and we have never seen him since. I have many other siblings which are two brothers and one sister. I get along really well with all my siblings and they support me heaps. My sister’s name is Ashlee and she is 10 years old. My brothers are twins but they are completely different. My brother’s names are Daxton and Logan and they are 13 years old.

 

Chapter 5

When I got home I quickly grabbed an apple and went into my room. I got my laptop and watched some Netflix. I heard a scratching sound on my bedroom door so I opened it and there was my little two month old kitten called Cookie. I picked her up and popped her on my bed and she fell asleep straight away. Mom called out, “Aubrey.” I went out into the kitchen and she told me that dinner was ready. We were having stir fry. My other siblings were all out Logan was at football practise, Daxton was at swimming practise and Ashlee was at dance.

 

Chapter 6

Once I had finished my dinner mom and I went and collected the kids from wherever they were. We then drove back home and noticed that the front door was open and not locked. When I walked into the house I looked around and nothing had been stolen or anything. I told mom that the door wasn’t locked and she had just told me that she forgot to lock the door. When she told me I dropped my shoulders and took a deep breath. I was relieved.

 

Chapter 7

It was now the next day and I had to get up early to go to training. When I arrived there was Mackenzie waiting for me but I noticed that there was another person with her. I walked up said hello and she introduced me to a lady named Kate. She told me that Kate was going to train with us. I was quite excited because it was a new person training with me. I didn’t know what she was like yet but she looked and sounded very nice.

 

Chapter 8

During the training session Mackenzie had to go home because her family was coming over and normally I would have gone home to but since Kate was there she told me that I had to train with her until it was the normal time that we finish. It was 2:00 pm and I finish at 3:00 pm so it was only an hour to train with her. Once Mackenzie had left Kate was still the same as she was when Mackenzie was there and she was very lovely.

 

Chapter 9

It is now only a couple months until the Olympics and I have been training really hard. It was quite sad because unfortunately my family were not able to come to watch me run but of course Mackenzie came but Kate couldn’t come either. My family were going to watch me run on the television. It is now time for me to say goodbye to my family and head to the airport with Mackenzie. When we got to the airport all the other Aussie Olympians were there.

 

Chapter 10

I said hello to everyone and we all went through security and got on the plane. I sat next to Mackenzie and she was getting me all ready for the race. I watched a few movies and buy the time I had done everything we had landed in Barcelona. All the other Olympians from other countries were there. We all got in a bus and drove to the village where the Olympics are.

 

Chapter 11

It is now time for my race. The judge called out all 100m racers up to the start line. He then called out 3, 2, 1 GO! I ran as fast as I could but unfortunately I didn’t make the top 3 but I came tenth. I am still very proud of myself and all of my efforts though.

 

Chapter 12

The Olympics is now over and it is time for us to all go back to our own countries. We got on the plane and half way through the flight I noticed that I smelt some smoke. The pilot then called out we are having malfunction with the plane so we are going to land immediately. As soon as we landed the plane caught on fire. Everyone was safe and made it out in time. I had some injuries but in the end everyone was ok.

        That is my story on the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Jack Heath Award

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Jack Heath, author of “The Cut Out” and “Fail Safe”, visited our school in term 2. He made a big impression on us. The work that we did motivated us to develop skills in writing. We ran an award within our class. All students improved their writing and produced some fascinating stories. I am very proud of every student and all that they have achieved. Below is a photo of our award winners and Jack heath when he was talking to students earlier in the year.

What is the Jack Heath award?

The students from our class wrote a story based on a theme. It had to be accurate and we needed to research our ideas before writing. We had a few weeks to write our story. We thought we were finished, but in week seven, Ms Whelan said we had to re-craft our work into better versions. The due date was the end of term three.

In week one term four, Ms Whelan drew out three names out of a tin which contained the names of eligible students. Everyone worked really hard for this award, but the winners were Jacob, Matthew and Brianna. All three of them won Jack’s latest book, ”The Fail Safe”.

How did we re-craft?

After we wrote our original copy, we used the same story base, but we cut out things we didn’t like and add more if we needed to. We changed some of the wording and made it stronger. Everyone had to be satisfied with their stories and make it the best it could be.

What we learnt from Jack Heath

When Jack Heath came to visit our school, we had a lesson with him. We learnt how to write a terrific story. He also taught us good things to include in our stories. Example: to use cliffhangers and to escalate the problem, so you have to solve multiple problems before getting to the main one. Although Jack Heath gave us ideas to write our amazing stories, other authors also inspired us such as Catherine Jinks, Gabrielle Wang, Justin D’ath, Phil Cummings, Michael Morpurgo, Michael Wagner, Jackie French and Jacqueline Wilson.

Overall we had a great time doing this and it was very enjoyable.

Written by Brianna, Matthew and Jacob.
Recrafted by Talitha and Jacob
Edited by our wonderful class.

 

Congratulations to Matthew, Jacob and Brianna

Congratulations to Matthew, Jacob and Brianna

Jack Heath. Author of The Cut out and Fail Safe.

Jack Heath. Author of The Cut out and Fail Safe.