Latest News
Posted on July 6th 2020
"The Books That Made Me" Competition - See Who's Won!
Every week we're running a competition to win a FREE book of your choice delivered to your door. Find out about this week's competition.
All entries to the weekly competition will get 10 Harris Points and be entered into a prize draw for £5 and £10 Amazon Vouchers. See the winners from previous weeks below.
Last week's winners - "Books That Made Me" competition
Congratulations to Guglielmo in Year 9 and to Ryan in Year 8 who are this week's winners. We asked you to tell us about books that will always be special to you - a book that maybe opened your eyes to a new world or a new way of looking at things.
Very like the author Frances Hardinge, featured on Read of the Day on Friday, Guglielmo has been inspired by a whole range of different books and authors throughout his life including Alexandre Dumas, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov and JRR Tolkien.
Ryan has recently discovered a new author, Libby Scott, whose book Can You See Me?, has made a big impact on him and was a present - which can make such a huge difference to how you feel about a book. It's a lovely idea to give a book to someone who you think will especially enjoy it, and it's so great when they do!
Previous reading competitions and winners
Lockdown Positives Competition
Last week's competition asked you to reflect on any positives you might also have discovered during lockdown - something that has helped get you through lockdown but also opened your eyes and given you something that will stay with you when this is all over.
Joshua, Year 7, wins our Lockdown Positives competition for send us his journal entry. Here's an extract:
"Today I have found a new interest, I've realised that I really enjoy volleyball. Lockdown can be positive or negative depending on how you look at it. It can give you time to figure out who you really are and what you want to do in the future.
I've also taken up the time to recycle a lot more and finding ways of saving energy, such as opening the curtains or blinds instead of keeping the light on 24/7.
I just hope that there are other people like me making the most of the situation instead of listing the negatives."
Longest Day Competition
Joshua, Year 7, wins our Longest Day competition for this lovely poem.
We asked to you write a story or poem on the theme The Longest Day. Here's Joshua's poem for you to enjoy as you watch the sun set!
I lay looking into the glamorous sunset
Managing the scratching of hay
It’s relaxing, not thinking about any regret
It is the longest day
Petting the fur of my dog
As the wind sways
It’s clear, there's no fog
It is the longest day
The sun is going down nicely
With a short delay
Because finally
It is the longest day
Famous black Britons competition
We asked you to research the life of a famous black Briton using the 100 Great Black Britons website
Recent events and the Black Lives Matter protests around the world inspired several of you to broaden the scope of your response to racial inequality beyond this research. Our winner this week submitted a reflective poem on the protests as his entry - a poem so powerful that it is our deserved winner this week. Congratulations to our winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, for sharing his thoughts with us.
Dedicated to those that peacefully protest
Protesters, delinquents are not. They
disrupt, they scream, they march
ahead. They are people, they are you,
they are me with a cause
too shy to voice, too angry to mute.
As the thousands parade together,
together they are beaten, insulted,
lauded and complimented.
Laughing friends hold rippling banners,
balloons float over the witness city.
Vandalism or justice? The mass’s repentance
of history is split by those that accept
the statue’s invite to hell or despoil its
plinth with its greed unquenched.
Alex Rider Word Search, by Ryan in Year 8
We asked you to create a puzzle by sharing your favourite author's books in a word search. You could make a list of book titles, characters or place names from an author's work and enter the information in Puzzlemaker.
Congratulations to Ryan in Year 8 who made an excellent Alex Rider word search. Test your skills to see if you can solve it.
Check the Reading at Home page on Thursday this week for some important news about the new Alex Rider TV series!
"Tell us about your pet" competition winner, Alex, Year 8
We invited you to send in pictures and stories about your pets. Here is Alex's heartwarming story of Jase the guinea pig and his great photos
Jase was born in a petting farm and had to be rescued when only a few hours old. He was fed by hand as a baby and it’s a bit of a miracle that he survived! He’s quite noisy and eats a lot of food and hay. His favourite food is cucumber.
This is Jase when he was very young. Use the teaspoon next to him for size comparison.
This is Jase when he was two years old. He’s always been keen to pose for the camera.
This is Jase when he was four (he’s five now). And he’s too big and fat to get on top of his little hut now.
Football competition winner - Thomas, Year 7
We asked you to tell us what you miss the most about football and how you would finish the league season. Congratulations to Thomas in Year 7 who is the winner. He wrote:
"I think that the Premier League should restart the season by the end of the month but behind closed doors because if you test the players regularly and don't have any fans then it will be hard for the coronavirus to spread. I also think they should stream the games for free on Youtube, ITV, BBC, Sky, BT and Amazon Prime. I think everyone misses sport and football is the one that is missed most and I think if they play the games behind closed doors then everyone has something good to do and the season can finish without any risk."
I really hope that the Premier League can manage to give us back some football this season, but as Thomas says, it must be done safely. I especially like the idea of games being streamed for free for everyone to watch. Ms Mead.
Drawing competition winner - Tesean, Year 10
Congratulations to Tesean in Year 10 who is the winner of our drawing competition to create an illustration for a book, or your own cartoon or comic. Thank you also to everyone else who entered and for sending in your fantastic drawings and cartoon story strips. Most of you will know Tesean, who had an exhibition of his work in the library two years ago, and who is usually to be found in Manga Club and at break and lunch times drawing manga characters and giving tips to students about their artwork.
Diary competition winner - Rayanne, Year 7
Congratulations to Rayane in Year 7 who is the winner of our Week 2 competition to write a diary entry for life under lockdown. Here are some of his thoughts which I'm sure a lot of us can relate to:
"I wake up early morning as usual, have breakfast... ready for a day in school but Monday wasn’t what I thought, no school, not going out, staying home like most people; not in England only but globally, no activity. I feel that the world has stopped, like my home clock stops sometimes when it runs out of batteries.
Watching news makes me feel sad waiting for life to start again… But I remember my teachers, my school, my friends in school. My feelings are telling me still hope for tomorrow and life will return as it used to be."
'Best books to read at home' competition winner - Jackson, Year 7
Congratulations to Jackson in Year 7 who is the winner of our Week One competition to find the best books to read when you are staying in. Empathising with others and learning about lives very different from your own was a popular theme, as well as action and humour to keep you entertained. Jackson's recommendation is Nowhere Boy by Katherine Marsh.
Jackson writes: "Nowhere Boy is an excellently written piece of literature. It really gets the reader to feel for Ahmed and Max, who are the two main characters. The author, Katherine Marsh, also makes us realise how unfortunate people are, because of war. It gives us an appreciation for what we have, when we see that these people have so little.
