We started the week with a double dose of ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ story-time with the whole of Pre-Prep taking part across two sessions. Mrs Mason kindly read all the children a story whilst sitting in the officially designated, giant yellow, story-telling chair, which was followed by delicious orange tiger biscuits and craft activities. We were lucky enough to be accompanied by the tiger himself, and unlike the tiger in the story, he did not leave at the end but has been keeping me company and scaring staff in the library all week!
On Tuesday, we held the ever successful Usborne Book Fair in the dance studio. Usborne have a fabulous range of books to suit all the ages of children at the school and Catherine, the ‘book fair lady’ was on hand to help make choices and direct decisions where necessary. If anyone would still like to order, please email her directly on catherine.f.garner@hotmail.com, not forgetting to tell her that you are at Barrow Hills and she will deliver the orders next week to the School. Remember, every penny spent helps raise money towards free Usborne books and resources for the School.
On Wednesday morning, we held a Reading Aloud Hour for the whole School. Some very kind volunteer parents and teachers read a range of stories to the Prep department whilst Year 8 kindly read to the Pre-Prep children. Thank you to Mrs Pickard, Mrs Collins, Mrs Brangold and Mrs Stephens. The children really love being read to and we are trying to incorporate as much of it as we can into the events schedule going forward.
On Thursday, we welcomed Ally Sherrick, children’s author and huge history fan! She delivered a number of interactive presentations and workshops about being an author and how to find inspiration for writing a story. All of the children across Years 3-8 really enjoyed Ally’s visit. She also conducted a number of book signings during the day for all the children who had ordered copies of her books, ‘Black Powder’ and ‘The Buried Crown’. If anyone would still like a copy, please do let me know on librarian@barrowhills.org. In the evening we welcomed back a number of children and parents for bedtime stories and hot chocolate, which is always a winning combination!
Over the course of the week, the children also had the chance to take part in a Literary Cluedo activity, finding clues and eliminating suspects around the School. The winner will be drawn from all correct entries next week.
The notice board outside Mrs Barraud’s room has also been the centre of a hive of activity where everyone had the chance to vote for their favourite childhood book character – Paddington Bear, Mog, the Gruffalo, Thing 1 & Thing 2, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit and Wibbly Pig. I think it’s fair to say, given the huge number of votes, that every one was a winner!
We also had a delicious literary themed lunch. 
With the imminent opening of The Happy Hangout, we have added a few items to our Amazon Wishlist.
Lou Emmett
Librarian
From Mrs Oldroyd
Friday saw the culmination of our 2020 World Book Week, with everyone dressing up as characters from their favourite books. I was given the tricky task of choosing the winners from each year group in Prep.
There was an amazing array of costumes on show today, with great book characters, some that we all knew and others more obscure. I liked the fact that some of the children had got together to recreate a group of characters from, for example, Cinderella, The Explorer and Winnie the Pooh. I felt very honoured to be asked to judge but I soon realised how difficult it was as there were so many and such a variety of costumes. Thank you to all who dressed up and to all the parents who spent time and energy making the costumes. You were all fantastic and the winners will be announced next week.
