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A World of Words
Find out more about how we have promoted reading within our school.
Find out more about how we have promoted reading within our school.
English and geography teamed up to take forty Year 7 students, who demonstrated a great attitude to learning in either of these subjects, on an enrichment trip to Newcastle Theatre Royal to see a production of ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’.
Adapted from the book by Onjali Q. Raúf, it is the story of a young student who finds that one day the empty chair at the back of their primary school classroom is finally being filled, by a young refugee boy called Ahmet.
There were lots of tense and sad moments, as Ahmet slowly shared his story with the rest of the class, alongside some hilarious and light-hearted moments as the narrator and her group of friends make it a mission to find out more about this new boy and reunite him with his family.
The play mixed different mediums such as dance, shadow puppetry and traditional stage acting, and the students enjoyed being able to get involved with the action as the actors encouraged them to respond to questions and situations on stage.
It was a great experience, and it provided an opportunity for students to think about some of the themes they have been exploring in geography and English lessons.
Staff and students again celebrated World Book Day with staff from across the school dressing up as literary characters and different subjects incorporating the day into lessons. Students in maths explored different passages of famous texts and considered ‘is reading becoming easier?’ and students in English examined some hidden meanings of classic children’s books. Form time activities included a bunting competition and a literary quiz.
Click here to view the answers to our Mortimer book quiz
As part of the World Book Day celebrations, Team English invited children’s author Dan Smith, an award-winning author of books for young readers and for adults, into school to spend the afternoon working with Year 7 students.
Some very lucky Year 7 students attended a workshop hosted by Dan and they had the opportunity to explore ideas, plan for stories and listen to Dan reading an exciting (and sometimes scary) extract from his novel The Beast of Harwood Forest – which is set in Northumberland.
All Year 7 students were captivated as they listened to Dan’s experiences of growing up.
He explained how he had lived three lives. In one, he survived the day-to-day humdrum of boarding school, while in another he found adventures in the padi fields of Asia and in the jungles of Brazil, but in the third he lived in a world of his own, making up stories.
Year 7 students enjoyed asking questions about all aspects of being an author and meeting Dan.
Staff and students celebrated World Book Day with staff from across the school dressing up as literary characters and English lessons focusing on the theme of ‘Throwback Thursday’, celebrating and exploring books from childhood in year 7, different genres in year 8 and the danger of a single story in year 9 . Form time activities included a bunting competition and a literary quiz. We also promoted reading for pleasure, with staff sharing the titles of their favourite texts with students.
Annie Flanagan, author of Monument, visited us to carry out a workshop with our year 8 students on the connection between a love of reading and writing.
Year 7 students, during key skills lessons, accessed the Durham Book Festival recording of Lisette Auton discussing her book The Secret of Haven Point. A competition was then launched for students to create a piece of writing using a local setting as inspiration.
Students from our Learning Zone visited Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, as part of an enrichment day and were gifted a new book, of their choosing, from the on-site bookshop.
Staff and students celebrated World Book day. Staff dressed up as literary characters and lessons focused on the theme of ‘Throwback Thursday’, celebrating and exploring books from childhood. Form time activities for the week also promoted reading for pleasure with staff sharing their favourite texts and a range of competitions for students.