ENGLISH NEWS YEAR 7 SHAKESPEARE’S LIVING LIBRARY 12/13th JULY

Wednesday 12th July and Thursday 13th July saw the English Department’s annual Shakespeare’s Living Library’: an event which enabled all of Year 7 to demonstrate their knowledge of Shakespeare and to celebrate the various elements of his world. Students chose their favourite aspect of Shakespearean England from the range covered in our lessons and they completed guided research to develop their knowledge. We then invited all parents and staff to see what the students have learnt and to ‘borrow’ Year 7 students from the library to learn more about the different elements of Shakespeare’s world. The students became experts on different areas including the monarchy, Shakespeare’s life, colonialism, attitudes to the supernatural, theatres, Shakespeare’s plays and the expectations of women of the era.

All of the classes in Year 7 put in enormous effort that was well worthy of the Bard. Not only did they talk with confidence about a range of contextual knowledge, but there were also sonnet readings and mini quizzes about Shakespeare’s life to top it all off. We’re pretty certain that some of these students could have been on the stage of the Globe or Blackfriars had Shakespeare seen them himself!

Of course, the most important element of the event was to allow students the opportunity to present in a formal way and to showcase their extensive knowledge to anyone and everyone who was willing to listen. Year 7 were truly impressive in their ability to talk about a range of Elizabethan and Jacobean world issues with pride and were enthusiastic and confident in the knowledge that they have built on the subject. They handled their questions from parents and staff like absolute professionals.

Thank you, as ever, to everybody who was involved in making the days such an enjoyable experience: to parents and staff that came along to celebrate and to those who also supported by helping make cue cards, practising presentations and generally talking about Shakespeare at home!

A massive well done and thank you to all involved - we’re so proud of you.

Ms Hathaway and Ms Reeves