Thornleigh held our annual literacy week in March 2026, and everyone had the chance to join in with the fun.

Throughout the week, students across all year groups had the chance to get involved in an array of literacy activities. Some students attended live workshops with children’s author, Elizabeth Green, who ran creative writing sessions with Year 7, 8 and 9 students.

All students in Year 7, 8 and 9 got to meet Mancunian poet, Mike Garry, who delivered talks, followed by poetry workshops. As well as workshops and talks, forms were able to come together to join in, quite competitively, with different tasks such as guessing the tannoy readers, going on a literary scavenger hunt around the school and completing our annual World Book Day big quiz. As well as the form competitions, form tutors also shared the daily challenges which students could complete independently. Challenges included reading in the most bizarre place, designing your own book cover and even baking a book! Prizes for winning forms and individual students will be awarded over the next week.  

We ended our week with ‘Pages and PJs’ which involved KS3 students bringing their favourite book to the library, after school, on World Book Day. As students shared extracts from their favourite books, we were transported into worlds which made us laugh, ponder or had us on the edge of our seats! It was a wonderful way to end the week by remembering the core aim of literacy week: to foster a love of reading…and the pizzas helped!

Don Bosco once said that “school was not the end; it was rather the instrumental means for improving the way of life.” Likewise, at Thornleigh, our vision for reading is based on the same values that Don Bosco held about school. We believe that “the books are not the end; they are the instrumental means for improving the way of life for our students.” So, as we move beyond literacy week, we remain dedicated in fostering a love of reading in all students at our school.

Our form readers during three form times a week helps students to develop their love of reading, news articles from ‘The Day’ are a way for forms to discuss and debated, and, we are already planning our second literacy week for the Summer term!