In the last academic year, we introduced an exciting new reading project for our Year 8 cohort to 'Read Around the World'.

Over many months, students were encouraged to scrapbook their ‘journey’ across continents, noting cultural highlights as well as journaling their view of the books they chose.  Our dedicated librarian, Mrs Heard, was able to support students using our Accessit programme so that books selected matched the destination choices.  The English team had hoped that the scrapbooks would capture the many creative talents of our students, but they could never have anticipated the impressive insight, creativity, and wonder. 

Having presented this project to students as a competition, we are thrilled to announce the winning team: 

Their scrapbook journal is truly an artefact for the ages – 23 books were explored and reviewed in total, across beautifully curated - often tactile - pages, with incredible attention to detail.

Erin said she enjoyed "turning reading into something creative" that they could be proud of, while also learning about different countries and cultures through the characters they encountered.  For Gwen, one of the highlights was working with her fellow students, sharing ideas and discussing the books they had read.  Finally, Eva enjoyed the opportunity to discover new authors and stories, adding that it was particularly interesting to experience different cultures from a character's perspective.

The end result is a remarkable testament to their commitment to excellence, and upon reading it, the English team felt that Erin, Gwen and Eva demonstrated a deep love of reading and exploring.

All students who took part should be incredibly proud of how they approached this exciting project. It has been a real pleasure looking through the winning journal with Erin, Gwen and Eva this week - a truly exceptional piece of work which reflects imagination, dedication, and an enthusiasm for reading which is so wonderfully Plymouth High." - Mr Underdown