Harrow recently celebrated our love of literacy in an activity-filled Book Week that focused on highlighting books, authors, and favourite book characters across our entire school. The week was interspersed with exciting events that continued to inspire a love of reading amongst all our pupils, from 18 months through to 18 years.
Favourite Book Character
A climax to our event was when teachers and students dressed up as their favorite book character. Check out the creative, festive and delightful characters and see if you recognise anyone from the books you’ve read!
All about Reading!
Countless activities and visual reminders that inspired reading took place throughout our school. Our Head Master and Deputy Head read stories to our Early Years (18 months to 5 year old) children. Our older Harrovians enjoyed reading stories to our Early Years children, building lasting relationships and impressions for the years to come.
There was a book swap, where pupils bring in books they had finished. For every book they brought in, they chose another book to bring home, thereby enhancing our spirit of fellowship as we shared and swapped books with each other.
A magical atmosphere for reading was created in our library, taking the form of an enchanted forest.
Many teachers also decorated their room doors to highlight specific authors and books, reminding students of the many books they could read.
Special Guests
We were also delighted to have famous authors visit to share their books and writing experiences with us.
There was a virtual visit from Horrible Science author Nick Arnold, who shares how (when he’s not penning bestsellers) he gets up to all sorts of tricks to show everyone that books are really the most wonderful invention since inventions were invented!
Claire Culliford shared her new book which will be released in April called Pan Pan Helps Shelter from Acid Rain. It is set in China and has a panda as its main character. Our Year 1 and 2 Harrovians were among the first children to hear this story!
Matt Whyman has worked on books like Our Planet with David Attenborough. He shared with our older pupils about his creative writing process which includes collaborating, writing non-fiction and coming up with new ideas.
Seth Burkett is an author, ghostwriter and social media specialist who was pleased to visit Harrow to share his views on the power of literacy.
Kim Gillingham read and shared her thoughts on the book she wrote, Perfect, with our Years 1 and 2’s. They enjoyed hearing her share about her experiences firsthand.
Finally, Mr Claudio Garrido, Consul General of Chile visited and shared with our Upper School students about the life and works of Gabriela Mistral, a Chilean poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her poetry has been translated into Chinese, and the Consul General of Chile has graciously donated a number of these books to our school library for our students to enjoy.
Books that Influenced Teachers
Our teachers shared books that influenced them with our Upper School students and encouraged all pupils to borrow these works from them. Check out our teachers’ favorite books – we encourage you to take the time to cozy up and read some, or all of them!
As we dive into virtual schooling, it’s important to take a break from your screens. One of the ways you can do that is to immerse yourself in one of the books mentioned above – the more you read, the more you’ll learn – Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader.
