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300 New Penguins Arrive at PHSG

PHSG is now an OCR Ambassador Centre for A Level English Literature and we have received an exciting delivery this week of over 300 new books from Penguin.

As part of the Lit in Colour initiative begun by The Runnymede Trust and Penguin Books, Plymouth High School for Girls has been awarded the status of Ambassador Centre by the OCR examination board. This means that PHSG will be leading in the delivery of a more diverse curriculum for A Level English Literature, developing and providing a model for other schools to follow in the future.

It also means that we have been given 300 new books by Penguin to help us spread ideas from different perspectives across the school, creating great joy in the English department and for some of our students who volunteered for the exciting task of opening the boxes and finding out what treasures lay within.

The Lit in Colour initiative began in 2020 and their research highlights startling under-representation of writing by and about certain groups. For example, only 7% of students fully study a book written by a woman, and 82% of students surveyed could not remember ever studying a text by an author from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority background in their experience of school in England. You can read more about Lit in Colour by clicking the link below.

While PHSG has historically been very focused on using texts and ideas representing and reflecting the experience of women, this amazing gift is a massive step towards improving our ability to better reflect the multi-cultural world our students now inhabit.

Watch out for more exciting news about how we use the books to educate and entertain staff and students across the school community.

Lit in Colour | Supporting inclusive reading in schools (penguin.co.uk)