This week has been action-packed with literature-based activities, all in celebration of our annual Festival of Words! From vibrant costume and hat parades to inspiring authors and storytellers visits, as well as engaging workshops across all year groups, it has been a fantastic opportunity to immerse all pupils in the joy of reading.
Book Fair with Chorleywood Bookshop
We were thrilled to launch our Festival of Words with a wonderful book fair in partnership with Chorleywood Bookshop. Thanks to the fantastic support from our Beacon Community, we achieved an impressive total of £1,793.15 in sales, earning £358.63 in commission to invest in new books for our library.
Puppetry Workshop
Year 3 took part in a puppetry workshop led by the renowned theatre company Les Enfants Terribles. The session was inspired by Year 3’s current work on ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’ by Charlie Mackesy and by the discovery that a member of our own Drama Department, Manley Gavich, had previously worked on bringing the book to life in a stage production using puppets.
During the workshop, the children learned about the design and creation of puppets and how puppeteers bring them to life on stage. They experimented with animating everyday items of clothing by observing and recreating breathing and other human mannerisms. Our pupils were also encouraged to consider the feelings a young bird might experience, such as the fear of taking its first leap from the nest, and how these emotions could be expressed through movement.
To conclude, they created their own bird puppets and explored movements that mimicked those of a real bird.
Author Visit: Matt Goodfellow
On Tuesday, we welcomed poet Matt Goodfellow for a special all-day visit as part of our Festival of Words celebrations. Matt, the author of The Final Year, the UK’s highest-selling children’s poetry book over the past two years, brought his refreshingly iconoclastic approach to poetry to assemblies for Years 3–8 and workshops for Years 6 and 7.
Using his ‘Rebel Writing’ style, he demonstrated the freedom poetry can bring to writing, showing that it is the one literary form where full stops, capital letters, correct spelling and full sentences are not required. Matt shared stories from his own childhood as a bright but mischievous child of divorced parents, giving pupils plenty of humorous anecdotes about the challenges he has faced with ADHD – many of which drew nods of recognition.
Drawing on his ten-year experience as a primary school teacher in some of Manchester’s most deprived areas, many of his poems reflected real-life experiences, which fascinated the boys as they compared them to their own lives at The Beacon. Throughout the day, Matt delivered captivating assemblies, facilitated dynamic workshops, and signed books for pupils, sparking creativity and leaving a lasting, inspiring impact on their understanding of writing.
Year 3 Battle of the Books
The Battle of the Books returned to Lower School, with Year 3 taking on an exciting ten-week reading challenge in the lead-up to World Book Day. Pupils were encouraged to read a selection of ten books, building their knowledge and enthusiasm for a wide range of stories. Working in teams, they were then tested on their understanding of the books, carefully selecting the correct answers to a series of quiz questions.
Well done to all of our Year 3 pupils for their enthusiasm and for competing so brilliantly!
Drop Everything And Read
Would it really be World Book Day at The Beacon without Drop Everything and Read? No! That’s why we once again held our Drop Everything and Read challenge across the school, bringing our entire community together with a shared love of reading. Pupils and teachers brought in a book and throughout the day a booming alarm sounded, signalling everyone to literally drop everything and read. It was a wonderful way to pause, pick up a book and celebrate the joy of reading together.
Year 8 Beaconverse Podcast Project
Year 8 were challenged to create their own podcasts centred around reading. Working in teams of two or three, they produced engaging episodes in which they interviewed one another about their favourite books, sharing recommendations and discussing what makes those stories special to them.
Keep an eye out next week when we’ll be sharing some of their podcasts!
Costume and Hat Parades
Costume and Hat Parades took place across various year groups during World Book Day, as we celebrated creativity and encouraged pupils to take inspiration from their favourite characters and books.
Our Early Years and Pre-Prep pupils were challenged to come to school wearing costumes made from recycled materials, showcasing a character from a book they love. It was wonderful to see their imagination and creativity shine through their designs.
Meanwhile, pupils in Years 3–6 took on the challenge of creating hats inspired by stories, genres or characters. From magical worlds to classic tales, their unique creations demonstrated both their artistic skills and their enthusiasm for reading.
We saw inspiration from Harry Potter, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox and so much more!
Storyteller Visit: Rachel Rose Reid
We were privileged to welcome Rachel Rose Reid, a brilliant children’s storyteller and author, to our Spinney Theatre for the whole of World Book Day. She captivated our pupils with a storytelling assembly for Prep and led a series of engaging workshops for our Years 3 and 4 classes, sparking imagination and proving the power of words.
Quiz: Who Am I?
We put our pupils’ reading knowledge to the test with our exciting “Who Am I?” videos – a fun and engaging quiz activity during form time. In each video, Beacon staff took on the role of a character from a book and shared three clues about their identity. Pupils then had the chance to use their reading knowledge and deduction skills to guess who the character was before the reveal.
With separate videos tailored to different age groups, this was a fantastic way to ensure all year groups could get involved, building excitement around reading while encouraging curiosity, discussion and participation.
Beacon Bar Golden Ticket Competition
The long-awaited Beacon Bars returned once again this year, giving pupils the chance to discover a golden ticket hidden inside our very own branded chocolate bars. The eye-catching packaging was cleverly designed by the winner of our design competition, Rocky Docwra (Year 6).
Our lucky golden ticket winners were each awarded a £20 book voucher, helping to encourage and inspire a continued love of reading.
