Students in Years 7 and 8 have been busy this term, reading and quizzing in their library lessons. At KS3, every student has a library lesson once a fortnight and we encourage them to browse the shelves and take out books to read at home. Our fantastic librarian Ms Bossons is always on hand to advise on book choices or to chat about the latest books that have been added to the library stock. Students can even put in requests for newly published books that they want to read and they are delivered to their form class!
We are very proud of our library and the culture of reading for pleasure that we have at Sacred Heart and our Year 7 and 8 students have been competing to find out which form class can top the charts with their reading. Each form has their own team name and their reading progress is recorded by the number of words they collectively read.
So far in Year 7, 7A's King Henry the VIII and his Six Wives is in the lead with 233 quizzes passed, but they are closely tailed by 7R's Gary in 2nd place with 222 quizzes passed. 7A have read the most words at over 11 million words, if 1 word = 1 cm they have read 110 km – that’s as far as Harrogate! 7A also have 3 Word Millionaires, the highest number of word millionaires in any in Year 7 form class.
In Year 8, 8C's The Fast and The Furious is in the lead with 291 quizzes passed. 8R are in 2nd place with 269 quizzes passed. 8C have 7 Word Millionaires, which is the highest number in Year 8! 8R have read the highest number of words, 18 601 864, closely followed by 8C with 18 016 150 words. If 1 word = 1 cm, they have both read 180 km – that’s as far as Liverpool!
As a whole, Year 7 and 8 have completed 2 178 quizzes and read 93 551 976 words. If 1 word = 1 cm, this would be 935 km, which is as far as Strasbourg! The aim for each class is to read 40 million words bu the end of the school year, that would take us as far as London.
As a whole school we are aiming to read as far as St John's in Canada, 350 million words away!
At KS3 all students should be completing 20 mins reading homework every day. Our library is open before and after school and at break and lunchtime so there are plenty of opportunities for all students to choose a book they are interested in and get lost in a good story.
