Twenty-two students from 7J took up the offer and have participated in three workshops via video conferences from the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum on their writing skills.

Paul has been working with students across Australia and New Zealand for nearly 20 years.

The workshops mainly focus on how to start any story, the fail-safe formula which draws the reader in every time, how genre sets the tone of the story, how to use the five senses in writing and how to create suspense.

Students have worked individually or in groups and have written some very funny and interesting story beginnings.

Earlier in the year, both Year 8 and Year 9 students also participated in the Paul Stafford workshops.

It was very interesting to see that in the 2014 Naplan results, Year 9 writing growth rates in the group of students who participated in the workshops were far superior to growth rates experienced by the rest of their cohort, and more than twice the state average growth.

Most students have been very positive about the workshops and the ideas they have learned to improve their writing.

There are eight books written by Paul available for borrowing through the school library.