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Spring always heralds a flurry of exciting book-related events in the English department and this year is no exception. On Monday, 2nd February, Arty-Facts Theatre Company will be visiting the school to present a workshop on “The Tempest” for year 9 pupils to enrich their study and exploration of that play in English and Drama lessons. On Thursday, 5th February, the department hold the Jessie Wright Memorial Poetry Evening. Jessie was a former student of the school who loved poetry recitation. Her family endowed a competition prize for recitation and the evening celebrates that art. Pupils from years 8 and 9 recite poetry and visiting judges choose the most effective reciters who are awarded certificates and book tokens. Older students, from years 10 to 13, entered the poetry writing competition in the autumn term and the finalists read their compositions on the evening before the prize winners are announced. The following week, on Monday, 9th February, reading month begins. Pupils in years 7, 8 and 9 will begin a two week sponsored read on that day. This year, the proceeds of the sponsored read will be given to the charity Water Aid. Pupils in years 7 and 8 will also be reading widely and completing tasks from 9th February to 6th March in order to gain awards – at bronze, silver and gold levels in RiBiT (year 7) and BARC (year 8). Finally, the week beginning 2nd March is Book Week. During this week, there will be a number of books and reading-related displays, activities and competitions, culminating in World Book Day on Thursday, 5th March and the ever-popular Book Character Fancy Dress Day on Friday, 6th March. On Thursday, 12th March, most of the students in years 10 and 11 will be going to the Bridge Theatre in Warwick to see a production of “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller – the English Literature GCSE set text for these students. The excitement continues until the final day of the Spring term! On that day, Friday, 3rd April, the whole of year 10 will be involved in the Poetry Slam. Birmingham Poet Laureate, Richard Grant aka Dreadlockalien and fellow poet Scribbla will be hosting a day of creative workshops, group work, composition and performance, culminating in a poetry slam competition.
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