A Buzz About Books
Our Beacon Community have been enjoying a buzz about books this week, celebrating our inaugural 5-day ‘Festival of Words’, which we are pleased to successfully run for the the third year running here at The Beacon. There has been a packed schedule of literature-inspired activities, ranging from author visits, workshops, drop everything and read, creative book-related hats and costumes, and our very own Beacon Bar golden ticket promotion.
Find out more about what we have been up to below:
Titanic World Expert – Author Visit
Tim has very kindly donated a large number of copies of his book, ‘101 Things You Thought you Knew About The Titanic … But Didn’t’, to the school. Watch out for his ‘minute by minute’ Titanic special In April as part of Dan Snow’s ‘History Hit’ podcast series.
Seeing Stars! – Author Visit
Professor Raman Prinja took some time away from his day job as head of physics and astronomy at UCL to dazzle boys in Years 6,7 and 8 with a futuristic vision of our galaxy over the next several billion years. Using eye-catching graphics, his presentation explored such matters as the collision of moons, the formation of a Saturn-style ring around Mars and the death of the sun. In an enthusiastic Q&A session afterwards, the boys bored deeper into the issues raised and demonstrated their own passion for space-related matters. An author visit that was quite simply out of this world!
Book Fair
A huge thank you to all parents and boys who supported Monday’s successful book fair in the Spinney. Working in partnership with Chiltern Bookshops, The Beacon made £248.86 in commission from the sales, all of which will be ploughed back into new stock for us to offer Beacon Boys in both our libraries.
Story Chains
In English lessons throughout the week, our Pre-Prep and boys in Years 3-6 all took part in creating a collaborative story chain, where each class added their own twists and turns to create an evolving narrative. The boys were all given a choice of three starter sentences, and then after choosing their favourite, the first group wrote the story opening which was then followed up by the next class in the year group until all classes had contributed. They were given only a small hint each time to help them carry the story on. The results were brilliant and the boys loved participating, then hearing the final finished version on World Book Day!
Unveiling of Book-Inspired Automatons
Year 6 pupils have been diving into the fascinating world of automatons in their Design & Technology lessons, exploring movement and motion! Each boy designed their very own automaton based on their favourite book, bringing beloved characters to life through movement. From whimsical adventures to thrilling moments, there was a wide range of books to inspire their creations.
Battle of the Books Competition
Our Year 3 boys were challenged over a 10-week period to read a list of 10 books, all in the run up to World Book Day. Various different quizzes were then held during our Festival of Words to test their knowledge on the stories, where they had to work in teams to pick each correct answer. We held multiple tense rounds for this, and finally crowned our winners in the grand final at the end of the week.
Hat and Costume Parades
To celebrate creativity on World Book Day, our boys in Years 3-6 created hats depicting their favourite stories or characters, to wear on World Book Day. We enjoyed multiple hat parades around the quad to flaunt their hugely imaginative designs. This included a costume parade from our Pre-Prep boys, who came into school dressed as their favourite book characters. We saw inspiration from Paddington, Mr Men, Dog Man, Harry Potter, Where’s Wally, Peter Pan and 101 Dalmations from our Pre-Prep staff.
A Symphony of Stories
Years 2-5 were treated to a spellbinding series of illustrated concerts for World Book Day with author and artist James Mayhew. Trained as an illustrator, James wrote his first book for children as part of a college project. It was published professionally several years later as Katie’s Picture Show, which became the first in a series of ‘Katie’ books introducing children to some of the world’s great art and artists.
Yesterday, James led captivated boys on journeys through some of the world’s most beloved classical legends and folktales, firstly by telling the stories and then by illustrating them live at the easel as music from Holst’s Planets, William Tell’s Overture, Stravinsky’s Firebird and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade resounded through the Spinney. He explained how he likes to see his paintbrushes as his own instrument during these performances, helping to bring the stories of the music to life. During the course of the day, James produced five beautiful paintings which we are planning to put on display in school in the near future.
For more information on James’ concerts, a series of which are to be announced in the near future, please see https://www.jamesmayhew.co.uk/concerts
Guess The Book
This year, we decided to test all our pupils’ knowledge on their books, by creating ‘Guess the Book’ videos. This consisted of our teachers reading an extract from a mixture of different children’s books, and the boys then having to guess the title of it. This was a fantastic way to introduce different year groups to a range of different stories and genres.
Bringing Books to Life Dance Workshops
Our Nursery, Reception and KS1 finished the week off with multiple bringing dance to life workshops, which gave our pupils a unique insight to the stories, ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and ‘The Lorax’, by using the power of movements, acting and dance. This was lead by an engaging choreographer that allowed the boys to be fully immersed within the sessions.
Beacon Bars
One of our most exciting activities that took place on World Book Day, was our Beacon Bars opportunity. This allowed all pupils to buy a Beacon chocolate bar, in the hopes to win one of the 10 Golden Tickets hiding inside them! The lucky winners jumped for joy after each receiving their £20 book vouchers, which was all organised by our lovely Beacon Parents’ Society. A huge thank you to all those that helped.
Book Donations
We have been overwhelmed with your generosity in donating so many children’s books in fabulous condition. Your books have now been sorted and are with The Children’s Book Project. This charity aims to put new and pre-loved books straight into the hands of the thousands of children who grow up in homes with few, if any, books of their own. These children have fewer opportunities for shared reading with a parent, or to lose themselves in a story and to discover the world. Thank you for your help!
Drop Everything and Read
On World Book Day, we continued our tradition of ‘Drop Everything and Read’. This is when the whole Beacon community, students and teachers, bring in a book and then throughout the day have a booming alarm to alert them to quite literally drop everything and read! This was a fantastic way to encourage all ages to pick up their books again, no matter the setting or the time.
Bookmark Competition
Years 3-6 boys were tasked to create their very own bookmarks as a part of one of our many competitions this week. We saw a range of different ideas and designs this year, including drawings of mythical creatures, astronauts, and characters we all know and love. The winning five designs will be rewarded with £20 book vouchers, and all other designs will be put in the library for everyone’s use.
Beaconverse Podcast
Our Beaconverse Podcast made a comeback this week, with the Year 8 boys discussing their favourite books. They were grouped in teams of twos and threes to try pitch to listeners why they should read their favourite book, and each read an extract of the stories chosen to go along with it. There were many discussions about the changes they’d personally make on the books, their views on the characters, and how it inspired them. Watch out for the Beaconverse Best of Books Podcast next week!
