WEE COUNTY pupils have been tapping into the depths of their own imaginations as part of an ongoing writing workshop.

P6 and P7 pupils at St Bernadette’s in Tullibody have been working with The Super Power Agency to write stories for an anthology.

Last Wednesday, June 22, the school gave each child a glossy copy of the book of their stories after the agency began the workshops with the pupils in March.

The learners were writing stories based on superpowered heroes, villains and anti-heroes who attend a fictional Super Power Academy.

All the ideas were the children’s own and they were encouraged to be as creative as they wanted to be.

Gerald Richards, CEO of the Super Power Agency has seen the difference this approach makes to literacy, in both the USA and now Scotland.

He said: “Getting young people excited about writing has a long-lasting impact.

“It raises attainment across subjects, supports them in exams and makes the interview/job finding process easier.

“Alongside this, our workshops help participants get comfortable expressing themselves and sharing ideas – skills we all need for the future.

“We were excited to work with the budding young writers at St Bernadette’s. Their creativity and growing enthusiasm for writing is infectious.”

Kirsty McDonald, principal teacher at the school, added: “The children have really enjoyed working with Gerald and his volunteers.

“Their engagement and enthusiasm for writing was evident from the very first workshop.

“They looked forward to Gerald coming in every week, he has really supported the children in their writing from discussions, planning, re-drafting, editing and publishing.

“He brought fun to their writing and each week the children earned a super hero cape, an achievement they were proud of.

“The Super Power Agency has supported our children to foster aspiration, close the poverty related attainment gap, and become successful learners and confident individuals.

“Working with Super Power Agency provided a purpose and audience for the children.”

With each youngsters receiving a glossy copy of the book, they can now see the product of their labours.

Theo, a P7 pupil, said: “Gerald was super fun and nice, he made the writing more exciting and we loved getting the capes.

“He encouraged us to write in more detail. The book and the cover is very cool and well designed.

“He also won Come Dine with Me and we liked learning that."