World Book Week | Northgate High School

A wonderful celebration of books and reading was enjoyed by many during World Book Week. The week began with mouth-watering delights brought in for our Book Bake Competition and the marvellous entries proved we have some very talented students at Northgate making the judging a very difficult task!

Tuesday lunchtime the library was buzzing with crafty students transforming old books into hedgehogs, flowers and bookmarks – this proved so popular that a monthly ‘recycled paper craft’ is planned for the future.

Mid-week, twenty six students from Y7 and 8 snuggled up with pillows, blankets and a few good books as they took on the all day ‘Read In’ sponsored Readathon. We watched a live event with author Emma Carroll and held a fun mini book quiz. Students in all year groups were invited to take part in the week sponsored Readathon to raise money to buy books for children’s hospitals – our total raised £130.00 with a combined total of 4,665 pages read!

World Book Day saw many Y7/8 students entering their lessons as a book character as we encouraged students to dress up and celebrate the joy of reading and share our favourite books.

We finished the week with a lunchtime mini Alice in Wonderland themed ‘escape room’ with teams of students had to decipher clues to release the stolen jam biscuits.

There was also the form World Book Week Friday Quiz and form book door competition plus two online competitions- Guess the Staff Shelfie and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner which both also proved popular.

World Book Week may have come to an end but the love of reading and books continues in the school library as our stock is currently being updated and there are plenty of other events. Since World Book Week we’ve held a CSI Murder by the Book mystery for Science Week and there are a range of reading groups to appeal to all tastes – make sure you come and check us out!

Mirren, Year 7, got involved in a number of the World Book Week activities and tells us about her experience. ‘World book week was a blast! On Monday, we had a cake competition. People from the years 7 – 11 were able to bake a cake. We all came to the Library at Lunch and we were judged on our cakes. Then on Tuesday, it was recycled book art at lunch! Some people made hedgehogs from recycled books and some people made bookmarks from recycled books.’

‘On Wednesday, it was the Readathon that was my favourite part of the week. Me and some of my close friends all sat in the corner of the Library and I brought a few pillows and we all sat, took it in turns to have the pillows, and read. We got to have a few breaks so it was nice being in there all day. Miss Lynn brought out some sweets, some fruit and some drinks so it was almost like we were having our own little party!’

‘Thursday is when we all dressed up as our favourite book character! I dressed up as Luna Lovegood as I am a massive fan of her weirdness and some of the teachers when I was answering questions, they called me Luna instead of Mirren! Friday was the form quiz on different books, our team won in our form (Roxy, Malachi, Me, Jess, Gabriella, Euan and Carlos). World book week was amazing and I am so glad and grateful that I got to be a part of it!’

Seren, Year 8, tells us what it was like to take part in the read-a-thon. ‘I did the read-a-thon and it was great! It was a really fun way to contribute to children’s hospitals and give them books because everyone deserves to read and should be able to read. We read lots of pages and we were treated to a live event with Emma Carroll. It was so inspiring to be able to watch an author and listen to her talk about her books. Emma Carroll also gave us a tour of her writing room. In addition, we did a fun, book-themed quiz. It was a very important cause because reading is essential for someone’s life, or at least their childhood, and so it gives children in hospital an opportunity to be able to read and imagine.’

Annabelle, Year 7, also participated in World Book Week and said, ‘During World Book Week I took part in a read-a-thon in the library that went on throughout the day. I really enjoyed it as I got to sit with my friends, reading. In the afternoon we had an online meeting with an author. She was really nice and gave us answers to all our questions. She also gave us tips and tricks for when we do our own writing. I would certainly do it again if I had the opportunity.’

Ella, also Year 7, gives us her take on the week. ‘From the 28th February to 4th March the school hosted lots of activities to do with World Book Week. On Monday there was a cake competition where people brought in homemade cakes that were to do with certain books. On Tuesday there was recycled book art where you could make roses or hedgehogs out of the pages of old books. On Wednesday there was a read-in in the library where 60 students could go off timetable and read all day! There was also a webinar with Emma Carroll where she talked about her books and gave tips on how to write your own. On Thursday there was a non-uniform day where you could come in as a book character and there were prizes for the best three! Overall, it was a very good week that I really enjoyed!

A big thank you to Mrs Gill and Miss Lynn in the Library and well done to everyone that got involved with the activities.