World Book Week
Ruislip High School were excited to participate in a week of activities centred around reading to celebrate World Book Day.
On Monday 2nd March, Ruislip High was delighted to welcome local author Jennifer Rothwell to launch our World Book Week celebrations — and what a fantastic start it was.
Jennifer began the day by delivering an inspiring assembly to our Year 7 students, sharing her passion for reading and the magic of storytelling. She spoke about how books can transport us to new worlds, spark imagination, and give us the confidence to create stories of our own. Students were also introduced to her debut novel, A Spark of Fire, the first book in the Firelighters series — a thrilling tale of fantasy, courage and adventure that immediately captured their attention.
The excitement continued as Jennifer met with our Year 10 cohort for a dedicated author talk, where she explored the themes of her writing and the journey from initial idea to published novel. Later, she spent time with our Year 12 English students, offering a fascinating insight into her career path — from journalism to becoming a published author. She spoke candidly about the realities of the writing process, the challenges of drafting and editing, and the determination required to bring a book to life. Our budding writers asked thoughtful questions and gained valuable advice about pursuing their own creative ambitions.
In the afternoon, creativity truly took centre stage as Jennifer led a series of Creative Writing Workshops with Key Stage 3 students. Armed with imagination and enthusiasm, students began planning their own story adventures, experimenting with character, setting and plot. The sessions were filled with energy, ideas and the beginnings of many exciting new narratives.
It was a memorable and inspiring day that perfectly launched our World Book Week — reminding us all of the power of stories and the importance of reading for pleasure.
The remainder of the week saw students participating in a library lesson in our Learning Resource Centre that involved students completing a ‘scavenger hunt’ activity to investigate what the library has to offer and how accessible our LRC makes reading to all of our students.
On Thursday 5th March, the school conducted a ‘Follow the Story’ where staff read a portion of a short story to students in their lessons, with the conclusion (with a twist!) of the story being revealed in the last lesson of the day. This ensures that all of our students are reading on World Book Day and staff enjoy leading discussions surrounding the story and getting to read it themselves!
Finally, throughout the week saw multiple competitions running with a bookmark competition, ‘The Reading Trail’ hunt for what staff are currently reading, ‘Blind Date with a Book’ in our sixth form and various quizzes centred around books and reading, with some staff faces also being featured on a video, made by students of our sixth form.
World Book Week has been an incredibly successful and engaging week promoting a love of reading amongst our staff and students.
"The author workshop was fun because it was creative and allowed us to explore designing a fantasy world" Anthony, Year 7
"It was very exciting to meet a real author as it gave me lots of ideas for the book I am currently writing." Oriane, Year 7
"I really enjoyed World Book Week, all of the activities were extremely fun" Isaac, Year 8.
