International Women’s Day 8th March 2022
Our school celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) with our Year 12 students making ribbon pins for staff and students to raise awareness and help support a local charity, ‘Sutton’s Women’s Centre.’
IWD is when we honour women and celebrate their achievements whilst working towards gender equality and empowering women worldwide.
Check out IWD 2022 campaign theme #BreakTheBias
We have a many accomplished women authors in our library but three who particularly stand out for us this month are: Angie Thomas, On the Come Up; Katherine Rundell, Skysteppers and the late Judith Kerr, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Don’t forget to look on Sora for some inspiring books celebrating Women, by typing in Women in the search box.
British Science Week 11th-20th March 2022
British Science week (BSW) is a ten-day celebration of Science, technology, engineering and maths. This year’s theme is ‘Growth.’ The subject of ‘Growth’ is broad and diverse, stretching over many areas of our school curriculum from Biology to Economics. There is plenty going over the week, so take a look and visit:
www.britishscienceweek.org
One of the items that caught our eye in the library was BSW ‘Smashing Stereotypes’ section which celebrates the diversity of people working in the STEM sector. How many times do you see pictures of a stereotypical “mad scientist” with white hair in a white coat? Well, STEM careers are far more divergent with people, from different backgrounds, working in labs, universities, construction and businesses. If you are considering a career in STEM in the future you might like to check out the case studies below, who knows in years to come you might find a job just like them?
www.britishscienceweek.org smashing-stereotypes
We have a broad range of books in the library covering all science subjects, come in check our shelves, dewy numbers: Economics 330; Science 500; Physics 530; Chemistry 540, Biology 574, Body 612. Above and below are a few that are popular: Kay’s Anatomy by Adam Kay; Science Tales by Darryl Cunningham; The Gecko’s Foot by Peter Forbes; Nature’s Building Blocks by John Emsley; The Age of living Machines by Susan Hockfield; How to teach Quantium Physics to your dog by Chad Orzel and The Economics book by DK.
Also, check out the reading resources on Sora and type in Science in the subject box:
Competition time
British Science Week are running a ‘Growth’ poster competition for KS3 students (aged 11-14 years). See details below for the terms & conditions.
www.britishscienceweek.org poster-competition
This month our library have some great new reads together with some revered authors to keep us reading about their popular characters, check out these: Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer; The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna; The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco, Robin Hood by Robert Muchamore; Lie, Kill, Walk Away by Matt Dickinson and Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.
On your Marks, Get Set and READ …..
That’s right it’s the top 100 fiction books that all secondary school kids should read before they leave. How many have you read already? Check out the Reading Cloud and Sora for all of these titles and more! If you have read the first one on the list, ‘To kill a mockingbird?’ We have just added author, Harper Lee’s, follow up novel ‘Go set a Watchman’ to our library.
Click on the link below for the full 100 fiction reads. 100FICTIONBOOKS-SECONDARY.pdf
World Book Day 2022 Special Report!
The excitement was high, competitions were launched and books were dazzling around the school as World Book Day shook us by storm. There was a buzzing feeling as year 7 got free books and bookmarks handed to them and every year group got a World Book day £1 token to spend on a new book.
Author Roland Chambers visits to SGS
The highlight of World Book Day was having author Roland Chambers come and visit our School. Roland is a talented writer and illustrator living in Devon. His work includes fiction, non-fiction and illustration. Roland’s books include a biography of Arthur Ransome, The Last Englishman, which won a Jerwood Award from the Royal Society of Literature and the Biography Club’s HW Fisher prize.
Roland illustrates across a variety of media, including books, magazines, websites, and installations. His maps for Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy are available to buy online as limited-edition prints.
Masked Reader
Teachers had put up pictures of their favourite books on their classrooms doors and some teachers had come together to take part in the Masked Reader competition; which has left some still guessing which teachers were reading the books as their masks were so good!
The Library would like to say a big thank you to Ibrahim in year 12 for putting together the video for our masked reader competition, he did a first class job!
Who dunnit?
A literary murderer struck at Sutton Grammar School on World Book Day! It was the task of the students to find out who committed this dastardly crime. Literary clues were put up around the school as a fast game of cludeo pursued to hunt for the killer!
Our School Charities for World Book Day
In addition to the other events going on around our school, SGS collected for two charities ‘The Tanbok Project’ which is building a library in Vanuatu for schools affected by cyclones and the ‘Books 2 Africa’ which supports students across the world with donated books.
National Book Tokens’ launch design competition
This is your chance to be part of National Book Tokens’ nationwide competition to design a book token and win prizes for yourself and your school.
As part of World Book Day be inspired to creatively share your love of books and enjoyment of reading by entering your book token design. There is a template you can download from the link below together with all of the Terms & Conditions. Design-a-national-book-token-competition
Shakespeare Week 21st -27th March 2022
“To be or not to be that is the question?” This quote and many like them is the reason we have cherished the works of William Shakespeare for centuries. His plays epitomise the olden times of late 16th century and early 17th century England. The playwright wrote 36 plays with including a range of genres: Comedy, historical and tragedy. In additional he wrote sonnets and poems. His famous works include: The Merchant of Venice, Taming of the Shrew, King John, Othello and Hamlet.
During Shakespeare week one of the nation's favourite children's authors, Michael Rosen, shares what he likes about Shakespeare and talks about extracts from The Tempest. Broadcast on the Shakespeare Week website at 11am on Thursday 24 March 2022 (you will need to register to listen to this).
In the library we also have many of the traditional Shakepeare’s great works and well as some colloquial ones. Our titles include: Hamlet; Midsummer Night’s Dream; Othello; Romeo and Juliet and Terry Deary’s, Best Ever Shakespeare Tales.
We also loved this link below telling us which plays have included words and phrases we use today:
www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeares-plays/famous-quotes
Take a look on what Shakespeare Sora has to offer, by typing in Shakespeare in the search box:
Don’t forget SGS’s Cakespeare Society, Tuesdays at 1pm in room 5 for a chance to read Shakepeare whilst enjoying some cake on the side! This half term the club will be reading ‘King Lear.’
Scan this QR code for a great Shakespeare crossword!
Calling all budding Mathematicians and Statisticians
In the Library we have some new maths and Statictics books which have arrived which we think will make for some thought provoking reads: Reckoning with Risk by Gerd Gigerenzer; How to Predict Everything by William Poundstone; The Art of Statistics Learning from Data by David Spiegelher.
Earth hour: 26:03:2022 An Hour that could change decades
On Saturday 26th March at 8.30pm supporters in over 190 countries will unite in taking action and raising awareness of the issues facing planet Earth in ‘Earth Hour.’ Earth Hour is far more than just an hour it’s a movement working towards our futures for both people and planet. It is a symbol of solidarity for all of us to come together for the benefit of our world. Check out this website below for the Earth Hour countdown and find out why 2022 matters? https://www.earthhour.org
In our school library we have a great many books on climate change and planet earth, whether you like stories or facts, check out these titles and don’t forget to click on the reading cloud to search for more like them: Dust Road and Flood Road by Tom Huddlestone; There is no Planet B by Mike Berners-Lee and The Future of Energy by John Armstrong.
Comic Club gets a New Look!
Well done to Debarun in year 8 who designed our wonderful new logo for SGS Comic Club. We think it really packs a punch in the comic world. Comic Club runs for Year 8 on Mondays period 7.
So far, we have covered the background to both Comics and Manga styles. We are starting to put our own comics into Photoshop and will be producing our first comic book. All sessions include reading comics and graphic novels and we have gathered a great knowledge of the biscuits that go well with them whilst reading!
Take a peek at the powerful new Spiderman comics that have hit our library shelves.
UNESCO World Poetry Day 21st March 2022
Held every year on 21st March we celebrate World Poetry Day. This day is an occasion to honour poets worldwide with their diversity and cultural expression through poetry. UNESCO, who adopted World Poetry Day in 1999, aims to promote reading, writing and the teaching of poetry through media closely linking it to other arts such as theatre, dance, music and art. It is a great way to bring people across the continents together and everyone is invited!
Credit Stephen Parker / Alamy Stock Photo
Acclaimed American poet, storyteller, activist, and autobiographer, Maya Angelou wrote this wonderful poem which was considered to be her favourite:
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard ’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.
By Maya Angelou 1928 -2014