The English Department and Library staff have very much enjoyed hosting this year’s 2024 FHS Book Week! The week has involved all year groups and has allowed us to open our doors to various guest speakers, writers and productions.
In conjunction with Friday’s celebration of International Women’s Day, this year’s Book Week assembly focused on the literary contributions of women across time and place. It was also supported by a wonderful (and highly informative) introduction to the publishing industry from our Writer in Residence, Emma Shevah. The pupils were not only given an insight into the process of creating and crafting a piece of fiction but the trials of pitching, marketing and selling your work. We have no doubt that this will further inspire some of our brilliant creative writers to put pen to paper!
As part of our Book Week celebrations, we have also been thrilled to welcome renowned theatre director Michael Oakley back to the school. His practical theatre workshop encouraged Year 10 pupils to become actors, challenging them to look more closely at Shakespeare’s use of rhythm and verse. Year 10 greatly enjoyed the session and it was wonderful to see them bringing life to the Bard’s work in such an enthusiastic and joyful manner.
On Wednesday afternoon, Year 8 and 9 were given an inspiring talk by award-winning YA author Sarah Crossan. She discussed her writing successes so far as well as the development of her own style and voice. There were also some very eager pupil faces at the end of the talk as each student exited with an early, pre-release edition of Sarah’s new novel, ‘Where the Heart Should Be’.
On Friday morning, things became very theatrical once more as The Globe Players arrived at school and delivered two fabulously brilliant and energetic productions to Year 7 and 8. Whilst Year 7 were given a stimulating introduction to all things Shakespeare, sampling a host of celebrated dramatic moments, Year 8 were transported to the rugged moors of Scotland and the treacherous planning of Lady Macbeth and her husband.
To complete the week, we were also thrilled to invite Naomi Ishiguro to the school as our guest speaker for the Sixth Form. Naomi discussed her publications (‘Common Ground’ and ‘Escape Routes’) as well her experience of working within the creative industry and the potential impact that AI may pose. Her talk was a wonderful opportunity for not just our A-Level English Literature students but any student conscious of our potentially changing future and how we navigate maintaining creativity in a changing world.
Finally, we cannot even begin to attempt to capture the spirit of Book Week without mentioning the amazing array of literary costumes donned by students of all ages on Friday. Little did we know that we would have several Crayola crayons and a significant number of Oompa Loompas donning the halls of FHS, and even Willy Wonka (Mrs Lorimer) himself made an appearance! It has been a week of celebration and interest but also a week that has hopefully inspired even more future reading and an extended personal reading list for the Easter holidays. We cannot thank everyone enough for all their help in bringing so many events together to create such a fabulous FHS Book Week!
Miss Cadman Beaumont, Head of English
