English

The Magic of Harry Potter

The librarians celebrated Harry Potter for a fortnight in February. Everyone was invited to Hogwarts lessons in the Turret Library. We were sorted into houses, just like the students in the books, and got chance to play some Harry Potter themed games. Before you play anything though, you have to rummage through the library to find ‘The Monster Book of Monsters’. Upon finding it, you’ve got to go through the rules of the library (at the magical school of witches and wizards). After that, everyone enjoyed the quiz, where you guess different magical journeys through drawing and acting. Then there was a quick fire question round, with each team being asked different questions about transport. The scavenger hunt was yet another thrilling event, in which nine objects relating to magical transport were hidden around the library, along with a letter. The letters formed a word, or rather, a place, which is found in both Hogwarts and Bolton School of Witches and Wizards. At the end we received a chocolate frog (a Freddo)! Aaminah and Iris in Year 7 said: ‘The Harry Potter day was a great event, which I and plenty of others thoroughly enjoyed. I was greatly entertained by the librarians, and thank them greatly for their hard work.’ ‘I had a great time, and I can’t wait until the librarians hold another event like this!” The Harry Potter event is worth going to since you can make new friends there. You can participate in lots of activities and quizzes and see how big of a fan of Harry Potter you are. Even if you aren’t one, you can come along and join in with the experience. You won’t regret it. Maryam Farooq, Year 7

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World Book Day

A whole host of activities celebrated reading on World Book Day. The corridors were looking whimsical as girls (and staff!) dressed as their favourite fictional characters for the day. Both boys and girls were invited to put a ‘Book in a Jar’. This competition run by the Library challenged everyone to illustrate a favourite story inside a jam jar, with some inventive results going on display! The Big Book Swap allowed girls to bring a book they no longer wanted into the library and swap it for something new to read, donated by another pupil or member of staff. All Senior School pupils received World Book Day tokens and could use these to buy copies of the £1 books from the Library on the day. The weekly book clubs also held World Book Day themed sessions during the week. The School’s online community was also encouraged to join in and share their current reads using the hashtag #CommunityOfReaders.

Aspiring Authors

Prolific author Anne Fine visited the Girls’ Division and spoke to Year 7 girls on the release day of her latest book, ‘Aftershocks’. She also agreed to help judge the whole school writing competition that launched on World Book Day. Girls from all year groups were challenged to write a short story based on a title or opening line supplied by Anne and the English Department. Titles included ‘Along the Seashore’, ‘An Unexpected Break’ and ‘Teffalong’. One of the opening lines was: ‘The word spread. Marnie’s in so much trouble now!’ A shortlist of entries was sent to Anne and she decided upon the overall winners. The author said she loved reading the girls’ writing and offered her observations on the pieces she read. Middle School Winners: Meera Salvi & Rebecca Zavaglia Middle School Shortlist: Evie Done-Jackson, Marryum Gul & Arianna McKie Upper School Winners: Verity Cooke-Scott & Lily Porter Upper School Shortlist: Charlotte Lowe, Ella Davey & Georgina Cooke

Anne described Verity’s entry as ‘the steady unfolding of a psychologically interesting story’ and found Lily’s to be ‘very well written’. She commented on the Middle School winners: ‘They had the edge because they hadn’t bitten off more than they could chew and they stayed completely in control of what they were doing.’ All four winners received signed copies of Anne’s books ‘Aftershocks’ and ‘Shades of Scarlet’.