Celebration of writing and storytelling returns

When World Book Day comes round each year, we want to celebrate our love of reading, writing and storytelling. But one day just isn’t enough. Since 2015 we have hosted the Charlotte Haggerty Writing Festival, which filled a week with exciting activities.

Aimed especially at KS3, the festival gave students opportunities to create their own stories, alongside listening to favourite books from staff and students.

Building up to the festival, lunchtimes in the library offered ‘Mystery Readers’, when teachers read from their own favourite stories. Through the week of the festival, students chose their own favourite stories to read aloud, developing their own confidence in speaking in front of an appreciative audience.

More confident readers were found amongst our Millionaire Readers, who since the start of the year have read their way through over nine million words, in hundreds of books! Their efforts were celebrated at the Book of Excellence lunch where the Top 5 received their own choice of a new book. Congratulations again to Madiah, Sheikh, Rakib, Tasnim and Safa, and to every student who has been busy reading.

The week’s highlight was, of course, World Book Day itself. In lessons throughout the school, our student literacy leaders appeared in classrooms to read extracts from some of the best stories by leading children’s authors.

It wasn’t just listening to stories though; students were given several opportunities to write their own, and with the possibility of winning national prizes. Students have been busy writing for the BBC Radio 2 500 words competition, and the Wicked Young Writers award, supported by the National Literacy Trust. Between these competitions students could create both fiction and non-fiction writing. The students are now waiting to see if their entries have been successful.