Poetry by Heart 

In November, the Senior School was spellbound by the grand final of the Blackheath High Poetry by Heart 2023 Competition, where girls in Years 7 & 8 are challenged to immerse themselves in a poem and perform it in front of an audience. The standard of recitals was outstanding, with performances including The Tyger by William Blake, The Hyena by Edwin Morgan, The Listeners by Walter de La Mare and extracts from the magnificent epic Beowulf. 
 
After an intense series of performances, the finalists were named as Hannah, Elsie, Mimi, Ava, Holly, Alice and Lana. Our panel of judges then had the difficult task of picking a winner based on the most effective storytelling, creation of atmosphere and vocal delivery. Very well done to Ava for her winning recital of ‘The Adventures of Isabel’ by Ogden Nash! Runners-up were Holly and Lana. 
 
Huge congratulations to all finalists and to all our Year 7 & 8 students for taking part in this powerful annual poetry celebration. 

A buzzing Book Fair 

The annual Scholastic book fair brought a lovely buzz to the Senior School library at the end of November, with Year 8 Book Club recruited to help run the fair for the week. They took on the challenge to make it a fun enterprise project, engaging with the students who came along. As avid readers, they were able to make some great recommendations. They ensured the event was promoted throughout school, resulting in a great literacy event for the whole school. Over £180 was raised by the students to be ploughed back into buying more books for the school library. 
 

Book Club Xmas Special 

Years 7-9 this week enjoyed the annual tradition of the Book Club Xmas special, coming together to share their favourite Christmas books and decorate gingerbread people to look like characters from some of their favourite books. While the icing was setting on their biscuits, they busied away stitching some lovely, festive felt baubles to take home, along with a new book to enjoy over the holidays.