ENGLISH & LIBRARY NEWS
Spoz Visit
On Wednesday 26th June, local poet, Spoz visited Woodrush
to run a poetry slam with a group of Year 7 students. Students
spent the day working on a number of poetry related tasks which
culminated in a performance to decide who would represent
Woodrush at the Worcestershire poetry slam finals. The winning
team, known as ‘Rock and Repetition’, were selected and will now
represent Woodrush at the finals taking place on the evening of
10th July at The Artrix, Bromsgrove. We wish them every success
and hope they bring the trophy home!
We would also like to say a big thank you to Spoz for such an
enjoyable day.
Miss Ludford.
World Book Day
2013
On the 7th March 2013 Woodrush
embarked on its largest World Book
Day with the hall transformed into the
magnificence of a University Challenge
arena of the book world. In the
weeks running up to the event there
was much
preparation
from the English department
promoting the event in lessons, from
the librarian Mrs Robertson and English
teacher Miss Packwood designing
the quiz including all its questions
and rounds; the art department
who designed a collection of giant
sized books and other fantastic three
dimensional pieces of artwork such
as a lamp post from C.S. Lewis’
Narnia, a life-size Where’s Wally
and a broomstick from JK Rowling’s
renowned series of novels, Harry
Potter; the 6th form who helped the
preparations providing team captains,
mascots and even score trackers and
last but not least a group of specially
selected students from each form
and school year with a passion of
reading that would represent their
house either Lanchester, Brindley or
Cadbury to gain a huge amount of
house points. It’s incredible that
a day such as World Book Day has
taken place for many years, but this
year so many people were involved
demonstrating the importance of books
and reading no matter what subject
people prefer. Reading is something we
20
all do every day, so it was nice
that a day dedicated to it was
widely recognised with a massive
fun event that allowed many to
increase their knowledge and
rediscover their love of books.
The day kicked off with a packed
audience of students in the school
hall all excited for the morning ahead,
a stage full of circular tables with
students ready and prepared to win
house points for their house and
team. Mr King opened the event
expressing his appreciation of books
and the importance of them in
the educational environment and
then the game commenced! The
audience were surprised when they
discovered the first round involved
them; envelopes placed under their
chairs would mean they would have
to answer the question to win a
chocolate and house points. Three
very surprised year 7s were called up
to answer a question without any help
(not even from the audience). After
the excitement of students chanting
their friends’ names to try and get
the question correct round 1 kicked
off with the quick fire ‘childhood
favourites’. Questions in this round
were based upon classic picture books
such as ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and
the patchwork elephant ‘Elmer’, which
many sixth formers in particular,
struggled to remember! As the game
went on it got harder and harder with
rounds for ‘books & authors’, ‘myths
and legends’, ‘poetry and poets’
including a question about my personal
poetry queen Carol Ann Duffy, who
is the current Poet Laureate, and the
game changing ‘books into films’ round
where Queen Adele’s hit ‘Skyfall’ was
used as a question. The quiz rounds
were also broken down with audience
participating rounds, where in one
round in particular was a year 7 boy
chanting “The Hobbit, The Hobbit,
The Hobbit, The Hobbit” in response
to a question showing the competitive
nature of students on a day that
sometimes goes unnoticed. In
addition there was the ‘mascot chant
game’ with roars from the Lanchester
Lions winning the game for the loudest
house.
Up until the last round Lanchester
were in the lead with 39 points,
however one incorrect answer meant
that their lead was lost and Cadbury
then went on to win the game by two
points with sixth former Katie B leading
C2 to victory. When asked about her
teams’ success she said how she was
“very proud” of her team who she
also added “worked very well together
and had a great range of knowledge”.
2500 merit points were added to
Cadbury’s points total. Second place
was Lanchester who gained 1200
merits and runners up Brindley who
received 750 merits. The winning team
also each received a £5 book voucher
each as a reward for their incredible
knowledge. Many students praised the
morning with some expressing how
it was a good way of getting involved
with books and how the audience
rounds were fun and challenging. The
game in general impressed the year
7s as it gave them the opportunity to
play along and interact with the teams.
All in all, the biggest qui z in Woodrush
history was a great morning spent
learning and appreciating the world of
literature.
Written by Jay C