Literacy Festival
At Haberdashers’ Academies Trust South, we believe strong literacy skills are the foundation for a successful future. The Literacy Festival is a year-long initiative, where pupils can represent their school in a range of competitions across the Trust, whilst developing their literacy skills.
Participating in the events and competitions earns pupils a place at the end-of-festival celebration in the summer term.
Literacy Festival events include:
- Read around the World Competition
- The Virtual Book Club*
- Group Watch Film Screening
- The Spelling Bee*
- Envision*
- Speak Out
* These events will be for both primary and secondary pupils.
Read below for further information about these events and we'll get into more detail about each throughout the year. Literacy is the key to a successful future, so get involved in as many events as you can!
Read around the World Competition - Secondary
An intra-trust competition to encourage reading for pleasure. Students must read 20 books annually and submit a review for each. The librarian validates completed reading records, and will award certificates and enter your name for the Trust Literacy Festival.
The Virtual Book Club - Primary and Secondary
An intra-trust book club that encourages critical reflection and practices oracy skills. Students read a designated book, and at the book club, they can answer the questions below. Students are encouraged to attend if they still need to finish the books or want to listen but not speak.
Group Watch Film Screening - Secondary
An intra-trust viewing of a dramatised reconstruction of a text studied in GCSE Literature to strengthen interpretation skills.
Students who want to attend the literacy festival must write and submit reviews of all books and films to their English teacher.
The Spelling Bee – Primary and Secondary
The competition begins in schools where students compete against their peers to win a place in the final. All year 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 students are invited to participate.
Debate Mate - Secondary
Debate Mate is open to our secondary schools and is a debating training and competition programme. The programmes increase speaking and listening attainment and improve higher-order thinking skills and non-cognitive abilities such as confidence, teamwork, and leadership. In doing so, the Debate Mate programme addresses the widening skills gap between education and employment whilst raising aspirations and helping students to make informed post-18 choices.
Envision – Primary and Secondary
This programme is a partnership between young people and Envision Programme Coordinators and mentors to tackle social problems affecting their community. By engaging young people in what matters to them, we support them to make change happen whilst building their skills beyond the classroom.
Read more about the work Envision do with schools
Speak Out - Secondary
Joining this challenge will mean you get to take part in two workshops. Each workshop is expert-led and interactive. By the end of the workshop, every student will have delivered a speech they have created from scratch to their classmates and a small panel of judges, usually a couple of teachers, who select top-quality speeches. You may be nominated to give your speech during an assembly at the next stage of the competition. If successful, you will go to the finals, competing against students in our other secondary schools.
Find out more about the Speak Out challenge
The End of Festival Celebration Day – Primary and Secondary
The end of the festival celebration will be another opportunity for all those who participated in our Literacy Festival events to celebrate their achievements. Winners will be asked to perform their winning ideas, speeches, debate summaries, or team pitches. There will also be some team building exercises, workshops, talks and a chance to network with students from across the Trust.
