A fantastic celebration of books and reading has been held at school.

Students have enjoyed inspiring talks from writers, workshops, quizzes, reading promotions, a book fair and dress down day, as part of the fourth annual ICHK Book Week.

Local and international authors have been visiting school all week, to share their expertise and advice with our students.

NCTE Excellence in Poetry for Children Award winner Janet Wong ran ‘Poetry Suitcase’, an interactive programme for Year 7s, to motivate them to find a place for creative writing in their lives.

Author and illustrator Dean Stewart hosted a ‘Beyond Reality’ workshop to teach Year 8 students about creating strong foundations for surreal worlds.

New York Times bestselling author Soyoung Park presented ‘Finding Your Own Story in the Age of Social Media’, to encourage Year 9 students to reflect on their own identity and shape their unique stories.

In Year 10, writer, translator and editor Adan Jimenez looked at how video games tell stories and explored themes in his ‘Immersive Storytelling in Video Games’ workshop.

Award winning writer Wesley King spoke to Year 11s about some of his more challenging novels that deal with mental health awareness, grief and neuro-divergency.

In Years 12 and 13, Rachel Smith, the producer of Hong Kong Stories, ran a ‘Develop Your Voice’ workshop. Students were led through the process of crafting a story into a polished, impactful piece, focusing on what makes a story successful and how to make a deep impression.

Bestselling author Ben Clanton ran a ‘Creating Characters’ workshop for +1 and ASDAN students, exploring ways of creating and getting to know a character. Wesley King, Dean Steward and Rachel Smith also hosted workshops.

A very successful book fair was organised, and the week culminated with a dress down day, with students and staff dressing as characters from their favourite books.

The celebration of books and reading was organised by the English Department, in collaboration with the Library. It has been wonderful to see students engaged in the world of books, and developing their lifelong love of reading and learning.