What an amazing Book Week we had! We encouraged students and staff alike to enjoy books and discover new authors.

At Blackheath High Junior School girls from Nursery to Year 6 enjoyed author visits from the inspirational Lisa Thompson, Harriet Whitehorn and Rachael Mortimer. This year, our celebration of books focused on ‘Here We Are’ by Oliver Jeffers. Nestled amongst the beautiful illustrations, this book teaches us to show kindness to each other and to our planet. Girls in each year group focused on a different aspect of the book in their English lessons and they produced work including a kindness tree, a leaflet about our planet for an alien and a presentation to promote the reduction of single-use plastic.

Instead of Book Swap, we have partnered with a school in Plumstead who were extremely thankful for all of the generous donations for their school library. We also introduced the Extreme Reading Competition which saw numerous whacky, wild and wintery entries! Thank you to all who entered and congratulations to our winners who received a book voucher. 

In the Senior School, Monday saw the start of our ‘Lonely Hearts’ competition in the library. Each day a different ad appeared to give a clue to a character and the book in which they appear. On Tuesday everyone received a £1 book token which are redeemable in most bookshops. Thursday was the annual Book Quiz in the library. Ten teams competed against each other answering questions on general book knowledge, dragons in books, ‘so you think you know Harry Potter?’, ‘who am I?’, as well as picture rounds. The winners were ‘Miss Haversham’s Dream Team’ who showed an impressive knowledge of books.

The highlight of the week was our special assembly on Thursday where both staff and students dressed as their favourite fictional book characters. Some of the best costumes included 101 Dalmatians, The Twits, Charlotte’s Web plus many more. The English department entertained the whole school with a short sketch based on Harry Potter.

On the 11 March, Cliff McNish came to Blackheath High School to talk to us about his amazing books, which have fantasy and horror themes. At lunchtime, Cliff started with a book signing where he signed copies of his books, answered our questions and was happy to pose for photos with us. Some of us were then lucky enough to attend a creative writing workshop with Cliff. He talked about character development particularly how a villain turns out to be good person.

Cliff finished the afternoon by giving a talk to Year 7, 8 and 9 in the Sports Hall. He recalled how he once met up with his old English teacher, who was so old he was surprised she was still around, expecting her to say his writing skills were amazing as an eight year old but said the opposite! ‘It was nothing outstanding at all!’ That gave us all hope to become successful writers.

The turning point in his career was to write a book for his daughter Rachel. He wanted to spend more time with her and thought he could do it through his writing. She always loved his crazy stories. She wanted him to write about her and her friend and the book had to include witches and dragons. His book had to go through several rewrites after Rachel split with her friend and had to be removed from the book! After trying various publishers, Cliff finally found one who agreed to read it. Within weeks, his book was published and became a best seller. He now is an international writer with over 20 books under his belt.

Remember reading and books are not just for a week, it is a lifelong commitment. Stay motivated and keep reading!