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The Sixth Form Centre was buzzing on Thursday, with a gathering of staff and students from Bushey Meads, Kings Langley, Ashlyns and Tring schools who met to celebrate the Yoto...
It was a privilege to join 10 Beech last week on Friday morning and read with them during the whole school silent reading programme that takes place at Bushey Meads every Friday....
It was great to be able to join a few different CDC Groups last Friday morning and see all the students engaged so well with our Friday Reading programme, aimed at developing and...
Once again Bushey Meads students excelled in the World Book Day Bake-Off 2023. Tasked with creating one or more cakes, large or small, to celebrate books, our students produced...
On Monday morning, just before breaktime, our school fell silent and we all participated in a Drop Everything and Read or DEAR event across all lessons and office spaces in the...
Therapeutic Benefits of Reading and Writing Creative writing has reading at its core. The benefits of reading and writing (including journals and letters) have been referenced in...
How Healthy is Reading? 19th century newly literate women were considered vulnerable and there was a fear that they could be manipulated by fiction! Similarly, newly literate men...
Reading through History Reading has long been seen as a source of ‘solace, consolation and healing throughout history.’ Helen Mary Gaskell set up a War Library in 1914 (after...
We often hear about poems, due to some of us having to learn about them, or it just being a major form of literature that has existed for a very long time. Some of us might think...
Identification and Transportation This means the extent to which the reader identifies with characters and situations and how much they become mentally and emotionally immersed in...
The Sixth Form Centre was buzzing on Thursday, with a gathering of staff and students from Bushey Meads, Kings Langley, Ashlyns and Tring schools who met to celebrate the Yoto Carnegie Medal for children’s books. It was a lively day with competitions, discussions, workshops, questions and much laughter.
The highlight of the day was the visit by poet/author/rap artist, Karl Nova who entertained us with his presentation and later delivered an inspiring writing workshop to the students. In between sessions, Karl even gave an engaging talk to all Year 7 students. If ever there was a fun way to present poetry, this was it! It was lovely to see so many young people eager to share their creative writing with the group, Karl’s inspiration was clear to all.
It’s always a pleasure to welcome like-minded students from other schools and our visitors expressed their enjoyment of the day saying “the whole day flew by and the students all had such a wonderful time…. a memorable experience” and “it stood out as one of the best Carnegie events”. I would also like to thank our students for their hospitality, making sure our guests were well looked after.
When the results were finally announced, the four schools’ combined votes agreed with the official Shadowers’ Choice: Crossing the Line. However, the judging panel themselves had selected Joseph Coelho’s The Boy Lost in the Maze, a novel-in-verse about a boy who, after learning the myth of Theseus at school, is inspired to search for his own long-lost father. This marks the first time the prize has been awarded to a Black British writer.
Our own group of amazing students, Bushey Bookworms, have worked tirelessly over the last three months to read the shortlisted titles. Between them, they enthusiastically read an incredible 74 books, selecting the verse novel Crossing the Line as their favourite at their voting party for which they even baked cakes and cookies! A fabulous effort from all involved!
All the shortlisted books are now available for general loan in our library. In addition we have the titles shortlisted for the medal for illustration, which Yr7 & 8 classes enjoyed judging in library lessons.
