Last week we celebrated World Book Day with a week of events starting in the LRC on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtime where Miss Pearce hosted a a series of Murder Mystery Events in which students had to follow a range of clues, witness statements and evidence to work out who had murdered the library assistant! This proved very popular; there was a real buzz in the LRC as students used their reading and inference skills to solve the crime!  The celebrations continued on World Book Day itself with the English Department and Library staff dressed up as their favourite authors or characters from Winston Smith (complete with a furry rat on his shoulder) to an ethereal Miss Havisham and very convincing Grandma Chance from Angela Carter's Wise Children. Miss Barnett reprised her role terrifying adults and children alike as the Woman in Black. These staff then joined with teachers from other departments to give readings from their favourite books in various locations around school, drawing large crowds of curious cookie-crunching student listeners. Over the course of the week, all students had the opportunity to 'drop everything and read' for 20 minutes during one of their morning form times and students were able to indulge their competitive spirit with a range of competitions in the LRC, including guess the teacher book 'shelfie' and Best Reading and Book Pitch for the 3rds-L4: winners to be announced and prizes awarded shortly. Many thanks to all involved in helping to organise an energetic and inspiring programme of events.

By Mrs Gwynne - Head of English