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the highs and lows of his expedition and had the opportunity to buy signed copies of his novels from The Everest Files trilogy. Middle School Leaders were also inspired by Matt when he talked to them about the qualities needed for successful teamwork, both in mountaineering and in pursuing a career in the media. The annual Library House Quiz rounded off a week of book-related activities; Walter House was declared the winning team, with Zain Karim, Amrit Sharma and Ibrahim Ul-Islam answering 13 of the 20 questions correctly, one more than both Mulcaster and Spenser Houses. Book Boffz after-school club continued to provide book-related entertainment for our Third and Upper Third Formers in our weekly meetings. Craft activities, acting, quizzes, creative writing, reading recommendations and book buying offered the pupils a diverse range of sessions. June saw the culmination of a mammoth reading task for our Carnegie Club members, who read and evaluated the 7 titles shortlisted for the prestigious Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing. Our pupils were joined in the library by shadowing group members from St Helen’s School, John Lyon School and Northwood College for an afternoon of discussion and presentations as they decided which book

Reading Week heralded the end of The Big Read for our Third Form, who between them submitted over 300 book reviews. The overall winner was Samar Sekhon, and the runners-up and highly commended reviewers were Adam Ahmed, Soumava Giri, Eliyaan Jamal, Adi Arun, Ryan Sabour, Siddhanth Shah and Ethan Gao. The Big Read Form prize went to Mrs Solomon’s English class, 7DAW, who wrote 95 reviews approved for display on our library catalogue, Accessit. The Third Form voted verse novel The Crossover by Kwame Alexander as their Book of the Challenge 2023. Visiting author, editor and journalist Philip Womack talked to the Third and Upper Third Forms about his books, many inspired by Greek mythology. He signed copies and presented The Big Read individual winners with their certificates and book tokens. Philip then joined a group of Sixth Form pupils to answers their questions about his career in publishing. Author, documentary maker and motivational speaker Matt Dickinson gave a World Book Day presentation to the Fourth Form about his Mount Everest experience and how it helps in his quest to encourage reading for pleasure. With dramatic photos and videos to accompany his talks, the pupils were taken through

they judged to be worthy of the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Award. They eventually settled on I Must Betray You by Ruth Sepetys. Throughout the year the library has been highlighting resources to complement school-wide events such as Black History Month, Holocaust Memorial Day, Earth Day, wellbeing initiatives and the Coronation, with classes and co-curricular clubs invited to get involved in our displays. Book Boffz regularly keep us furnished with display material, including ‘mais’ models of Australia’s unique creatures (for Australia Day), as well as promotional posters for their favourite reads. Jaffa Cake Club created a rainbow of colour in the library again for LGBTQ+ History Month in February, and the Upper Third Form contributed to our reader development displays with junior fiction genre posters, a result of their research skills programme of activities. Mrs A. J. South

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Taylorian 2023