Literacy Week 2025

Thornleigh held their first ever literacy week last week 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 and virtual workshops, which included children’s author, Elizabeth Green, who ran creative writing sessions with Year 7 and 8 students. All students in Year 7, 9, 10 and Sixth Form 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.

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 KS3 students continue to accept the reading quests, battling with other forms in their year group to be the best reading form! In addition to this, they also have their form reading book which their form tutor reads to them each week. At KS4, we continue to promote independent reading, directing students to recommended lists on our school website, as well as Dua Lipa’s ‘Service 95’. This is a fantastic website which includes the singer’s own book club, podcasts, author interviews and reading lists.