Book week was a great success with some lovely work being produced across the school. Each class chose a picture book to lead their learning through the week; I hope that your children have talked about the books they studied.

Year 6 looked at ‘The Rabbits’ by Shaun Tan - a thought-provoking allegorical fable about colonisation and the effect of man on the environment.  Told from the perspective of the colonised, an unseen narrator describes the coming of the 'rabbits'. An encounter that is at first friendly and curious, but later darkens... Sparse, strange and stunningly beautiful, The Rabbits is a truly unique picture book.

In Year 5, one class enjoyed sharing the book ‘Ride the Wind’ by Nicola Davies and Salvatore Rubbino - A heartfelt story from the author of King of the Sky, The Day War Came and The Promise, with an important point to make about male mental health.

Year 4 looked at ‘Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush’ by Patrice Lawrence and Camilla Sucre - This heart-warming and heartfelt debut picture book from multi-award-winning author, Patrice Lawrence, will help ensure that the struggles and achievements of the Windrush generation are never forgotten.

Finally, the Year 3 classes all looked at ‘Valentine's Guest House’ by Sam Sharland- When a tiger comes to stay at Valentine's guest house, the human visitors all check out in a rush. Luckily, the hotel soon starts to fill again - but with a very different collection of residents, all with new and differing needs. Elsie and Valentine make lots of changes to accommodate the new guests, and a very popular, accessible and unusual guest house results!

All of the books chosen this year were selected to show diversity and inclusion, something we believe passionately about here at St Mary’s and all of the children responded really well to the themes raised in the books.

As part of Book week, our Year 6 pupils headed to the infant school to read their favourite picture book to pupils in Reception, thank you Old Basing Infant School for having us!