Mr Jackson, writer in residence

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Mr Steven Jackson has been announced as Queen Anne's School's writer in residence. Read below his first piece on the fantastic English events this year, so far!

We all know that school life is as packed as possible with the general demands of teaching and learning, and all the prep and other extra-curricular exploits that go on. I’m sure we would all agree, however, that it is exciting to be a part of the school community, regardless of these demands, because we know that any given day can throw at us something challenging, something exciting, something nice, something new.

And what a joy it is too to behold the school calendar at the start of the new academic year and to earmark some of the special and celebratory events that we know are fast-approaching on the horizon or waiting in the distance for us as a treat at a later date to come.

Talking from personal experience, when I saw, way back in September, that the former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy was coming to the school for National Poetry Day, bliss was it, I believed, to be a teacher at Queen Anne’s - bliss was it to be alive!

I felt truly blessed to be here. I was buzzing after the event like a gleeful bee, filled to the brim, bursting with a bellyful of the best honey.

It’s a memory I still dine on today.

Now when I look on and observe things unfold at the school as the half-terms tick by, I see that we are privileged to be involved in some of the greatest pageantry here, from scholars’ concerts to lecture series and academic symposiums, from exciting trips and outings, to student-produced musicals, science fairs, cake sales and other great charity drives. A panoply of popular, cultural and sporting events are there, each week, for our delectation – and what is most important is that students and staff alike all muck in to support each other and experience these things to the full.

Talking of big events, another giant in the diary for an English teacher is the week of World Book Day. This year the hallowed day fell on Thursday 3^rd March, and we, as the English Department, were all raring to go on the Monday with an assembly to celebrate the idea that at Queen Anne’s  ‘WE ARE READERS’. It was a fine way to start this important week by demonstrating the diversity of reading habits and literary preferences across the student and staff population.

We heard from a range of enthusiastic speakers about life-changing literature, and the sense of sharing witnessed here said everything about Queen Anne’s – it is a generous place to be. I’ve often thought the act of recommending a book we love to another person is akin to cooking for them or giving a gift – it is a gesture of goodwill and humanity. The spirit of goodwill was tangible that Monday morning for me.

And World Book Day the Thursday that followed was the same, if not better. The whole school turned out in literary style.

It was a dressing-up extravaganza nonpareil!

Being on campus that day was like being in a dream or part of a microcosmic world of time-past, time-fantasy and time-as-it-always-should-be. The Queen Anne’s community managed an anachronistic miracle by merging Shakespearean lives with the Hogwarthian, goodness knows how!

If you weren’t there you’ll need to imagine. Just picture several Where’s Wallies skulking about the place in characteristic hoops of red and white, lost then found, amidst a crowd of witches, wizards, ghosts, pipe-smoking detectives, furry folk and other figures, both fearsome and fantastical, and you have a snapshot of the glorious event.

World Book Day helped us to seize the day and become transported for a spell. As an English teacher, but more so, as simply a member of the Queen Anne’s community, it was a pleasure to be a part of the whole affair. I have the next one highlighted in the calendar already!

On a final note, World Book Day really brought it home to me: when we find the outside world in times of trouble, it is important to remember that we are blessed to be able to come together in this way and to celebrate with one another at Queen Anne’s, our fantastic school.