The delights of World Book Day

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”
George R.R. Martin

This week has been a celebration of the magic of reading as the school transformed into an animal kingdom on World Book Day. From our youngest pupils through to our longest standing staff, we became much loved characters. Even though the Hungry Caterpillar is now 55 years old or the Wolf from Red Riding Hood is 328 years old (having first been published by Charles Perrault but the story may be much older), these stories have enduring qualities.They capture our imagination and transport us to different worlds.

In our World Book Day Assembly, Miss Styles, Head of English and Mr Dobson, Lead Head of House coordinated our House Reading competition. Alongside Mrs Townsend, Director of EYFS and Reverend McConnaughie, School Chaplain, I was honoured to be lead judge. Every pupil in Year 1 and 2 performed a reading in their House groups and in Years 3 to 6 pupils who had been successful in earlier heats of the competition performed in pairs. We had readings from James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Highway Rat, The Lion and the Mouse and even a Dinosaur Rap. The pupils used their voices to bring to life the characters, with dramatic pauses, changes in tone and even acting out some of the action. The scoring was difficult and we judges were not always in agreement, but we did come to a decision. This year’s winners of House Reading are Heseltine!

Another highlight of the week was awarding Liliana in Year 4 a Head of Prep Award. Mrs Woods, Liliana’s Design and Technology (DT) teacher, made the nomination because of Liliana’s curiosity and determination. After constructing a cam mechanism during DT, which was only partially functional by the end of the lesson, Liliana took the initiative to go home and redesign it. Using materials she found at home, she built a new and improved version that worked far better than the original, demonstrating both creativity and reflective learning. We hope Liliana will inspire many other pupils to carry on their learning outside of lessons and to be explorers in the way they approach life. Well done Liliana.

Have a lovely weekend,

Alice Goodfellow