Wednesday May 7th saw the first of our ‘Greenford Read’ events this year: nearly 30 Year 12 students came together after school to share their opinions and experiences of reading ‘The Offing’ by Benjamin Myers, a beautiful coming-of-age novel, set in the rural Yorkshire landscape of early post-war Britain. The novel is a hommage both to the beauty of the outdoors and the natural landscape, and to the pleasures of self-development that reading widely offers.  It was a great exchange of ideas and all the students agreed that they were glad that they had stuck with the book until the end, that the experience had opened their eyes to a new genre, a book they would not have chosen otherwise and were glad to have been introduced to. The author responded to our Instagram post saying “Hello and thank you from me! I hope you enjoyed the book”

Four more ‘Greenford Read’ events follow, in June, for students in Years 7 - 10. These events are extracurricular activity-led discussion groups, which mark the culmination of our annual Form Time Reading Projects.  Over two terms, from October to Easter, all students in Years 7-10 read together once a week during form time.  The chosen books are carefully selected to stimulate discussion, to broaden students’ vocabulary and to offer an insight into other people’s lives and emotional worlds.   Feedback from these events is always positive and students usually leave asking ‘when can we do this again?’ Greenford High School is a reading school, where we actively encourage all students and staff to read for pleasure.  

Ms S Williams 
i/c Whole school Reading.