In February we celebrated LGBT+ History Month and ran our second writing competition. Our brilliant S6 Literacy Ambassadors were our judges again and chose Brodie C. from S2 as the overall winner! Brodie’s entry was about a drag queen RuPaul Charles and why they are a great role model. You can read Brodie’s entry in a Spring issue of Swatch magazine on page 7!

List of resources for LGBT+ History Month was shared with every student. The list includes tips for fiction and non-fiction books, bookshops to visit around UK, recommended articles to read, a free online zine and links to several organisations that offer help and information.

In March we celebrated World Book Day, every bookworm’s favourite day of the year! Our teachers started a lesson with reading from their favourite book and continued with a number of fun activities. Students guessed famous books from emojis and everyone loved guessing teachers from their bookshelves!

Kate Mallinder, author of two books for teenagers – Asking for a Friend and Summer of No Regrets, recorded a personalised message for us. She shared her tips for reading during lockdown that encouraged and inspired all of us.

Lastly, students were visited by a creative duo Metaphrog, who talked to them about their creative process and importance of reading. Sandra and John from Metaphrog answered pupils’ questions about creating comics, publishing books and many more. Students worked hard on creating their own characters and below you can find some of them. I am very proud of our talented students.

To make sure everyone was included in World Book Day, our amazing English Department set up a Blind Date with a Book for all members of staff.

PS. Anyone wishing to read more in 2021 (and beyond), check out this padlet for my tips and tricks!