Literary Baking Competition World Book Fortnight!

Holy Trinity School and Sixth Form Centre in Kidderminster has a philosophy of promoting reading as important to lifelong learning, so this year’s World Book Day celebrations were extended to cover a two-week period and included literature inspired activities and a recipe competition. Holy Trinity’s Teacher-Librarian, Katherine Slack, explained: “At Holy Trinity our philosophy is to embrace reading as a key to lifelong learning, essential not just in the quest for knowledge but also in the development of life skills. A good story will nurture empathy and compassion in its engaged reader, and it will teach resilience and cause the reader to question and open their minds.” Each year Holy Trinity seeks to make World Book Day celebrations a little different and a memorable experience for their students, and so this year to reinforce the message that the joy of reading should extend beyond a single day the school organised a programme of student activities to take place over 'World Book Fortnight' with a baking competition theme inspired by a special World Book Day edition of 'Bake Me a Story' by Nadiya Hussain and the school’s catering team, MiQuill Catering, hosting a 'Great Literature Bake Off', challenging pupils and parents to work together to create an original recipe inspired by a fictional story. Students from across both Prep and Senior Schools instead of dressing up as book characters were encouraged to continue with the recipe theme and invited to decorate and personalise an apron to wear on World Book Day, with the competition judged by the school’s Senior Art Department, and Illustration inspiration continued in the Prep School with pupils benefiting from the extraordinary talents of Holy Trinity parent and the founder of ‘Craft Make Play’, Mrs Claire Paveley, who worked with the children to develop and inspire their creative illustration skills. Miss Slack added: “Our thanks to Mike Williams of MiQuill Catering and Mrs Cynthia Joyce, a HTS parent and skilled baker whose cupcakes are famous within the HTS school community, for judging and selecting our final twelve winning recipes, with the overall winning dessert replicated for our World Book Day themed lunch on World Book Day. “In the style of 'Bake Me a Story', pupils from our Prep and Senior schools will now incorporate the winning recipes into their own stories and poems, which will then be compiled to form a Holy Trinity School book, courtesy of the Scholastic 'We Are Writers' initiative, which offers children the opportunity to see their own writing in print and published in a real book.” Holy Trinity promotes the value of reading to children as it helps to ignite a desire to learn to read and supports children struggling to grasp their early reading tools, a reading culture embraced in both Prep and Senior schools throughout the year. Additionally, during 'World Book Fortnight', members of the school’s Leadership Team, Administration and Senior English Department join in and take part in reading to Prep School classes. Miss Slack continued: “We would also like to express our gratitude to Tesco of Kidderminster who provided cooking ingredients and Morrisons of Kidderminster who have invited our Year 3 pupils to their store for a marketplace tour to support their instructional writing. “Opportunities for celebrating reading and books will continue throughout the year, including our Holy Trinity Book Club for staff and pupils in Years 5 to 8, which serves to support pupil transition from Prep into Senior school.”