Taylorian 2020

65 Dmitry Matyushok, Max Charles, and Pierre Seidenberg (Runners-up). The class prize went to Mr Hilton-Dennis’s English class 7ML, who wrote an impressive 74 of the 234 book reviews approved for display on our library catalogue Oliver. National Storytelling Week in February gave us the opportunity to welcome back Ben Haggarty to share some captivating, and at times chilling, traditional tales with our Third and Upper Third Forms and their peers from Merchant Taylors’ Prep. His retelling of The Bridge of Bones, a folktale relating to the flooding of the Wye Valley, proved to be all too prophetic this year. World Book Day at the beginning of March was celebrated with a visit from ‘mangaka’ Elena Vitagliano, the first European woman to win the Grand Prix Award, a prestigious international manga competition. She educated the Fourth Form in the history and different styles of manga (Japanese ‘whimsical drawing’) and gave live demonstrations and drawing tips along the way. Elena concluded her day at school with a manga workshop for two lucky Upper Third Form classes during their art lesson. The Library House Quiz also took place on World Book Day this year, with the trophy presented to the winning team by Elena. The themed rounds included ‘The Big Read across the years’, which gave one Sixth Form team member “a nostalgic experience”. Despite some impressive memory recall and lucky guesswork from other House teams, the trio of Theo Van Niekerk, Ikenna Oke and Zayn Khan triumphed yet again for Mulcaster, beating both Hilles and White by a single point. Book Boffz has continued to provide reading-related entertainment for our Third and Upper Third Form pupils. Meeting each week has allowed time for plenty of activities, including the ever-popular Harry Potter party and the selection and promotion of the 2020 Book Boffz World Book Day collection. The situation as I write has forced Book Boffz to go ‘virtual’, but we are still meeting regularly, playing games, writing collaborative stories, swapping book recommendations, and eating lots of biscuits - and cereal, apparently! Covid-19 has also resulted in the launch online of our CILIP Carnegie Medal 2020 shadowing group, who meet to read, review, and discuss a shortlist of the best books for children and young adults published over the last academic year. With the postponement of the shadowing groups’ vote until October, this group will continue to meet into the Autumn Term, hopefully back in the Library once more. The Library is in the fortunate position of being able to support recreational reading and remote teaching and learning with a wide selection of relevant, reliable and easy-to-access online resources, including prize-winning books, video lectures, and academic journals. Our e-newsletter has enabled us to promote the more personal aspects of our services, from mental well- being, empathy, and LGBT+ reading lists to workspaces for saving journal articles and new resource alerts. This has allowed us to continue to offer the pupils joy and inspiration through reading, to encourage bravery to be themselves and to do the right thing, and to develop confidence and foster innovation by providing them with alternative ways of researching and learning. Mrs A J South XX XX Elena Vitagliano workshop with Upper Third Form classes Mulcaster win the Library House Quiz 2020 Book Boffz wand-making workshop