Poetry Writing Competitions

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2019

To enter you simply have to send in your best poem, which you’ve written in class or at home, either by post or online.  The competition is open to anyone aged between 11-17 and the poems can be of any length and on any theme.  The competition closes at midnight on the 31st July 2019.

There are lots of great prizes on offer so why not give it a go!  For information click here.

Betjeman Poetry Prize creative writing competition 2019

Open to anyone between 10 and 13 years old, this competition invites you to write a poem on the theme of 'place'.  Prizes include cash, book tokens and family Eurostar tickets, as well as £5000 for the school of the winning poet.  The top 50 poems are also published in a poetry anthology.

The closing date is 31st July 2019 and you can enter online or by post.  For more information click here.

Reading Improves Your Financial Skills

According to a new report by the National Literacy Trust, children and young people who have good reading skills are four times more likely to have good financial skills than their peers who have poor reading skills.

“The way to get children reading is to leave the library door open and let them read anything and everything they want “ – Terry Pratchett (author).

As champions of Literacy at TRS, we encourage every student to carry a reading book of their choice and all staff and parents to be reading role models.

The Libraries offer a wonderful and diverse collection of fiction and non-fiction for readers of all interests and abilities.  We also run great competitions, including 'Take a Risk' and 'Word of the Week', and, in collaboration with other Departments, celebrate reading through events such as World Book Day. 

We are happy to consider buying any books that we do not currently have – just ask! There are suggestion boxes too for any comments or suggestions you may have.

Girls Who Change the World challenge!

To celebrate the launch of Captain Marvel, IBM, STEM Learning and Disney Studios have

launched an inspirational new challenge called Girls Who Change the World.  Open to girls between 11-14, the challenge is looking for ground-breaking ideas that will change the world for the better using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The deadline is tight - the closing date for entries is 26^th April!  Ten teams will then be selected to develop their idea with an IBM mentor.  For more information, view the video below and click here.

We have lots of Superhero graphic novels to browse and borrow in the Discovery Library!

CILIP's Carnegie Medal shortlist 2019

CILIP's Carnegie Medal is awarded each year for an outstanding book for children and young people.

The 2019 shortlisted books are:

To find out more about the books and their authors, go to the Carnegie Shortlist web page and click on the book that you are interested in reading.

Happy reading!

Waterstones Book Prize 2019

The Boy At the Back of the Class by Onjali Rauf, a story about the refugee crisis from a child's perspective, has won this year's Waterstones Children's Book Prize and The Blue Peter Book Award 2019. 

The winner of the older fiction category went to Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, an epic fantasy of magic and war and, according to the author, it is "an allegory for the modern black experience".  Like last year's winner The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, it is a fast paced and compelling read. Both novels are available to browse and borrow from the War Memorial Library.

The Boy at the Back of the Class is on our wish list - look out for it soon in the Discovery Library.

World Book Day 2019 Library Competition - winners announced!

We are delighted to announce the winner of our World Book Day 2019 Library competition! Tara H in Year 8 correctly identified the most teachers and which characters and from which books they came.  Four runner up prizes were also awarded to other Year 8 students Josh, Elsie, Nehir and Rowan, who impressed the Librarians with their efforts.  A runner up prize was given to Tommy-Lee from The Eden Park High School, who correctly identified the most number of Eden Park High staff.

The prize for the Department whose costumes were spotted by the most number of students in our Competition goes to the English Department who were Shakespearean characters!

The English Department in their amazing WBD costumes

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who entered!

The Children's Laureate - Celebrating 20 Years

Waterstones Children's Laureates drawn by Chris Riddell: from Flights of Fancy taken from the Book Trust website

Originally devised by poet Ted Hughes and author Michael Morpurgo, the Waterstones' Children's Laureate is appointed every two years to an esteemed writer or illustrator of children's books for exceptional achievement in their field.

Former Laureates including illustrators Quentin Blake and Anthony Browne, authors Anne Fine, Jacqueline Wilson, Malorie Blackman and Michael Morpurgo, poet and author Michael Rosen and author and illustrator Chris Riddell.  The current Children's Laureate (2017-2019) is author and illustrator Lauren Child, whose excellent Ruby Redfort books can be browsed and borrowed from the Discovery Library.