Eat Your Words

Author Kathryn Evans launches World Book Week

Kathryn Evans believes you can like pink (as evidenced by her hair) and still be fierce (she’s a fencing champion)! She has an unusual background – she has worked in the theatre, runs a farm with her husband on the South Coast of England and is an award-winning author. Her message to girls in Assembly on Monday was to Accept Yourself, Accept Others and not to buy the ‘lies’ which the media feed us regarding body image. The quest for ‘immortality’ is a theme which runs through Kathryn’s new novel Beauty Sleep. Kathryn ran stimulating workshops for our Year 8s focusing on Ideas, Plots and Structure, and enjoyed good old fashioned ‘book chat’ at lunchtime with last year’s GDST Novel Ideas Book Club members who had so enjoyed her novel ‘More of Me’ with its intriguing focus on Identity. Her books sold like hot cakes. One 6th former commented: I was so inspired by Kathryn’s Assembly talk on Body Image that I bought ‘Beauty Myth’. I am not a natural reader – but I love this book! What a wonderful start to World Book Week.

WORLD BOOK DAY BAKE-OFF

‘Eat Your Words’ became a reality on Thursday 7 March, World Book Day, when girls and staff arrived with boxes, tins, and trays of book-themed cakes for our House Competition. There were a few surprises in store. Mrs Smith, very proud of her creation, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, left her cake in the staffroom for about 90 seconds; on her return, she discovered that someone (who shall remain nameless!) had helped herself to a slice. A Hungry Caterpillar indeed! The prestigious panel of judges, Ms Mckenzie (Catering), Mrs Barnett (Art Department) and Mr King, Deputy Head, judged according to artistic flair, originality and, of course, taste.

There’s a wonderful line-up for the most artistic cake with a strong book-themed message: 1st Nur-Aleena (Y8, Eliot)  for her ‘Once Upon a Time’; 2nd Savannah (Y7, Seacole) for ‘Wonder’; 3rd Lilia Harper (Y7, Curie) for ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and 4th Eloane and Khadeejah (Y7, Garrett) for their ‘Harry Potter Spell Book’. 1st prize for Taste went to the creator of Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ (Curie), 2nd prize to Jessica  (Garrett), 3rd to Kirsty  (Seacole) and 4th to Hannah (Eliot). The Webb duo cleared two prizes – Mrs Webb for her wacky Harry Potter cake ‘Monster Book of Monsters’ while Maddie’s cake (Auggie’s Helmet – Wonder) won the popular vote (girls were able to ‘Look and Like’ at break time). Mr Coley took the Staff Best Taste prize. At lunchtime girls bought cake by the slice – a feast for they eyes and the stomach!

Overall….. wait for it……Curie took 1st place, Seacole 2nd, Eliot 3rd and Garrett 4th. The real winners, however, are the asylum seekers in Greece who rely on the mobile ECHO Refugee Library (Education, Community, Hope, Opportunity) for reading material. The money we have raised (over £100) will be used to buy children’s books written in the Farsi language.

Mrs Abrams