Reading and listening

By now parents of students in Years 7 & 8 should have received, in the school mailing, my end-of-term list of reading suggestions - look out for the coloured sheets. Do keep them as they could be useful for future gift ideas.

I am also keen to promote listening to stories and I regularly promote BBC 7, one of the BBC’s digital networks. Do tune in if you have a DAB digital radio. Stories can be heard live, but you can ‘listen again’ online for 7 days after the broadcast, with episodes appearing at 8 am. Not only is this an enjoyable pastime it also develops listening and concentration skills. Look at the schedules for BBC Radio 7 and you will see that the treats during the school holidays include:
Lizzie Dripping by Helen Cresswell
in 5 episodes, online until Friday 4 April.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
in 10 episodes, online until Friday 4 April.
The Legend of Arthur King by Dean Wilkinson
in 7 episodes, online until Friday 4 April.
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
in 2 episodes, online until Sunday 30 March.
Unreal by Paul Jennings
Five stories, online until Monday 31 March:
Cow Dung Custard
Smart Ice Cream
Lucky Lips
Lighthouse Blues
Skeleton on the Dunny.
Death Eric by Sam Llewellyn
in 2 episodes, starting Saturday 29 March.

Domesday Book Online

A new website has been set up to enable visitors to discover the history of the Domesday Book, to give an insight into life at the time of its compilation, and provide information and links on related topics.

The Domesday Book was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time).

The original Domesday Book has survived over 900 years of English history and is currently housed in a special chest at the National Archives at Kew in London.
Source: http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/index.html

Winners of the Decorate-a-Door-as-a-Book Competition

JOINT FIRST
7A - Little Misses …
7B group - Alice in Wonderland
HIGHLY COMMENDED
7C - Wind in the Willows
9A - The Hungry Caterpillar
10A - Lion, Witch & Wardrobe
COMMENDED
Cecilia 8B - Inkheart
8B - The Hungry Caterpillar
Maddy & Emily 9B - Fruits Basket
10B - The Bible
VISUALLY STRIKING
10C - Noughts and Crosses
9B - Around the World in 80 Days

Well done to everybody who took part. There were some wonderfully clever ideas and great teamwork and co-operation in the making of the decorations.

World Book Day

We're celebrating World Book Day in a number of ways:
- Decorate-a-Door-as-a-Book Competition.
- Whole School Reading, 3.45 - 4.00 p.m. The three afternoon lessons are shorter by 5 minutes so everyone can stop and read. Stay with your teacher from period 8, but remember to bring something to read, or visit the Library earlier in the day.
- Assembly on the theme of World Book Day.
- Tales from around the world: a huge selection of great reads on display.
- World Book Day voucher. All students have received a £1 voucher which can be used towards book purchases in a variety of ways: in participating bookshops, orders from Cover2Cover magazine in school, and the Book Fair.

Best Children’s Book of All Time

Booktrust, the independent charity, asked 4,000 people about their 'Best Children’s Book of All Time', and the winner was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle takes second place. Third place goes to Enid Blyton’s Famous Five Series, which was first written in 1942 and consists of 21 books about the fictional group of children. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne came in fourth place. The character, also known as Bear Of Very Little Brain, was first created back in 1926. Fifth place goes to The BFG (the Big Friendly Giant) by Roald Dahl, first published in 1982.

The 'Best Loved Author' in the survey is Roald Dahl, who has six books listed in the top 50 best, whilst Enid Blyton has five books in the top 50. For all details of the survey results, visit www.booktrust.org.uk