Novelist Kate Saunders sat on a panel of judges in a competition which saw 11 Hackney schools deliver performances based on the prestigious Carnegie children’s literary prize, for which she is short listed.

Saunders is one of eight authors on the list for her book Five Children on the Western Front - a sequel to E Nesbit’s Five Children and It, set on the eve of the First World War.

The team from Clapton Girls’ Academy in Laura Place, Lower Clapton emerged victorious in the Hackney Carnegie event at Petchey Academy last Thursday, for their presentation of The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness.

English teacher Kate Philips said: Their performance and sophisticated response to the novel was highly praised by the judges.”