World Book Day 2022

Members from all our Year 8 classes regaled us with animal myths written in the style of Rudyard Kipling on Thursday, demonstrating the scope of their storytelling skills for our World Book Day Assembly.

As each class filed into the O’Byrne, they were treated to the sound of music by Saint-Saëns: The Carnival of the Animals (kindly provided by Mrs Barry), which set the scene for our animal theme. Sarah, our Head Girl and Yagiz, our Head Boy, presented how they, and fellow members of Year 8, had been creating animal myths to explain how an animal came to have its key features, such as how a bird got its wings, or an elephant its trunk. They introduced each performer with good humour, mantled in black cloaks as wonderful wizards from JK Rowling’s famous fictional series of books (guess which?). They enthralled the audience (who listened patiently throughout), pausing to quiz them on the details of the stories between performances! They asked, for example, ‘How did the tiger get his stripes?,’ following Oli F’s (8R) reading of his inventive tale of the same name, and the answer was proffered by a younger member of the audience. Other stories shared today were: How the Seagull got its Ketchup! by Dora, 8R; How the Ant Turned into a Dinosaur by Ollie H, 8S; and How the Platypus got its Beak by Cosmo, 8F, who captured in his poem the essence of why ‘The Dog’ is one of our most treasured pets.

Thank you for supporting us by helping your child bring their favourite book characters to life in costume! For a brief moment, art and reality merged under the spotlights in the O’Byrne, expertly managed by members of our Claremont Tech Team: James S, James H and James F from 8F. Indeed, we were transfixed by our Year 8 students, as we listened adorned in all manner of robes that recalled stories and characters from the world of books. Congratulations to everyone involved! Well done.

Mrs Glendinning

Head of English and Humanities