Leading Welsh independent school, St Clare’s near Porthcawl are delighted that pupils can see their work published today as part a global project involving over 50 Cognita schools in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Hundreds of children have collaborated to create Lyla, Louis and the Magic Lift – a unique and fantastical book aimed at 10 and 11-year-olds, which was released to mark World Book Day.

This is the second year that Cognita has run the grassroots Share A Story project – bringing together students over three continents to write an epic adventure in English and Spanish.  This year, celebrated children’s authors Anne Fine and Jeremy Strong are supporting the project; 

This year’s book is a wonderfully mythical story which takes siblings Lyla and Louis, and their PE teacher, Mr Longsocks, on a thrilling journey where they meet the most extraordinary creatures; from raging alicorns to angel llamas! Our protagonists tackle cloud worlds, dastardly dwarves and spooky caves, to learn a valuable lesson in self-belief, courage and love.

Louise Wiliiams, Head of Art at St Clare’s said, “We are absolutely thrilled that four of our students’ pictures have been selected for this very special book. We are particularly proud of Year 10 student, Josh McDonald, whose picture has been chosen for the front cover. Our congratulations also go to Year 10 student, Grace Sheard, and Year 6 students, Koto Gutrai and Max Johns”.

Teams of children from dozens of Cognita schools were involved in writing the book – with each school taking on a chapter or illustration before passing it on to the next team. Over 10 schools also tackled the job of translating the story into Spanish.

The Share A Story II project was co-ordinated by Cognita teaching staff member, Joe Woodhouse, from the British School of Barcelona in Spain; “We set the children a specific challenge this year; to write a story with ‘wellbeing’ at its heart. We wanted the main characters to have physical or cognitive differences which can often be seen as obstacles, and then radically change readers’ perceptions by making these differences the superpowers that helped the characters overcome the problems they faced. Our hope is that in turn, it teaches us all to celebrate our differences more. We’re so proud of the wonderful story they have produced.”

The book is available to download free of charge on the Cognita website at https://www.cognita.com/news