To celebrate Book Week (4-8 March) and World book Day, we had a whole host of fun events going on around the school.  

Pupils at the Junior School threw themselves into an ‘Extreme Reading’ competition and a staff costume fashion show; while Senior School enjoyed a number of egg-cellent competitions, including Guess Who (guess the book character), the Big Book Quiz, the Big Basket Competition (win the hamper of goodies!), Quick on the Draw (draw a book title in 1 min), the infamous World Book Day assembly (this year an outstanding staff production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’) and the Friday finale, a visit from best-selling author Abiola Bello. 

A story of unwavering perseverance from Abiola 

Abiola spoke to students about her journey from professional street dancer to bestselling author of books including the ‘Emily Knight I am...’ series (her first book, written aged 12), ‘The Very Merry Murder Club’ anthology, and a romantic novel set in Hackey, ‘Love in Winter Wonderland’. 

Her own story - one of unwavering perseverance and life-changing chapters - paid off as she initially self-published; before going on to achieve major book deals, co-found the female-led diverse indie publishing house Hashtag Press, and advise on the World Book Day board. An inspiring speaker, she ran an excellent creative writing workshop on how to build a great book trope; then went on to answer some great questions from our students, including how to deal with writer’s block. 

Warning - very extreme reading! 

Our Year 6 Library Prefects organised a competition during Book Week to find the most Extreme Readers throughout the school, focused on capturing the lengths that pupils would to go to, to carry on reading in the most unusual of places and positions. 

The competition was incredibly popular, with entries pouring in from climbers, skiers, gymnasts, cyclists, in a range of creative poses and locations. Prizes were awarded to the most interesting and inspiring readers in EYFS, Key Stage 1, Lower and Upper Key Stage 2, and of course staff. 

Drum roll for the winners below and you can see some of fun and fearless entries in our gallery. 

• EYFS Winner - Paris  

• KS1 Winner - Scarlett  

• Lower KS2 Winner - Rose 

• Upper KS2 Winner - Thea 

• Staff winner – Mr Mostert 

Thank you to everyone who took part and helped us to showcase that reading is fun, exciting and rewarding. 

Written by Mrs Helen Cannell, 3B Class Teacher, Library, RE, Diversity and Joint Transition Lead