The Flagpole

We have been celebrating all things books this week, in line with World Book Day (Thursday 7 March)

What’s been happening throughout the week ….?

All week our staff have been wearing a badge displaying a book, and pupils have been challenged to see how many they can spot. We are collating all the answers and will be shortly announcing the winner who will bag themselves a brand new book and a £10 voucher (in the event of a tie, the winner will be selected at random).

We came in on Monday to find a body in the library. Using the clues, we asked pupils to identify the body, find the witness, establish what weapon was used in the murder and crucially WHODUNNIT?!!  Then they had to come up with an inventive reason for the murder. The winner will be announced next week and again, the prize is a £10 voucher and a book.

A Treasure Hunt, took place during breaks and lunchtimes. Pupils had to find the clues scattered around the library until they discover where the treasure is hidden. Again, the winner will be announced next week.   

There were also lots of activities in the library on the actual World Book Day – Thursday 7 March, including WHO AM I?, Book Anagrams and Wordsearches. There were also some fun book related quizzes in the staffroom.

Teachers spent time with pupils talking about books and reading from books during their lessons to promote our reading culture and some KS3 teachers have also taught some fabulous reading themed lessons.

The £1 book vouchers were handed out in tutor groups and are available to use in local bookshops and supermarkets until 31 March (subject to stock availability).

Over the course of this term, we have had some really exciting sessions at book club with pupils volunteering to take over a session each, their enthusiasm has been wonderful to see, and we have had some really memorable sessions. It started off with a creative writing task in which pupils had to re-write the ending of a popular book allowing us to consider alternate outcomes. We also had a murder mystery event where we had to find clues from around the Library to unmask who the murderer is. We have explored the popular genre of graphic novels with a comic strip competition, with the winner receiving a bag of sweets! There has also been a Hunger Games themed session where one student made cupcakes with the symbolic phrase “May the odds be ever in your favour”. And many more successful sessions. It’s been inspiring to see pupils actively participating and taking charge of the book club sessions. With pupils having to plan and deliver the sessions has added a fresh perspective to book club and we plan to do it again in between our book shadowing. After Easter we will be shadowing the 2024 Yoto Carnegies' shortlisted books up until summer.

Book club is on every Tuesday in the Library and everyone is welcome for book chat and of course, biscuits. It’s great to see so many pupils attending and new faces coming along too. 

Bronze

The hand in deadline for the expedition forms is Monday 11 March. Please return the Pau Medical Consent, Code of Conduct and kit request forms marked ‘Bronze DofE Forms’ to the Student Hub.

You will receive an email confirming the full details regarding the upcoming expeditions and groups allocation. Thank you to those who have been in contact recently confirming availability.

Silver

A reminder that the practice expedition meeting for pupils takes place this Wednesday 13 March, at Tutor Time in the Sixth Form Lecture Theatre.

Gold

Your training and practice expedition is fast approaching from Sunday 24 to Thursday 28 March. An email will be sent over the weekend confirming the full details regarding the upcoming trip. The preparation assignment has been set on Teams, please complete by Friday 22 March.

Will Bower
Head of Outdoor Education - DofE Manager