During the year we aim to take every child in the School to the theatre. Past trips have been to see shows as varied as: 'Oh What a Lovely War!', 'Frankenstein', The Jungle Book' 101 Dalmations'

We also have workshops in School, given by a company or solo actors; sometimes a renowned author visits us; recent examples of these are: Kevin Crossley-Holland on creative writing; the Young Shakepeare Company's 'Hamlet' and 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'A Taste of Dahl'.

The School Play is a Year 8 production; recent plays have been 'A Midwinter Night's Dream' and 'Bugsy Malone'. Year 6 have their own Drama Festival, performing Shakespeare or Chaucer. The Year 4 pupils all act in a short play. Years 5 and 7 study and participate in drama workshops, using scripts like 'Dracula', 'The Phantom Tollbooth' and 'The Willow Pattern'. Drama is frequently used within lessons throughout the curriculum, particularly in history.

Year 8 build upon their Year 7 information speeches and participate in the Gatrad Persuasive Speaking Competition, in which they have to persuade their audience (and the judges) to stop buying fur or illegal pets, to learn Chinese or to eat more chocolate! 

All the pupils have their knowledge of books tested in the annual Club Kids' Lit. Quizes, fiercely fought competitions. In recent years we have entered teams into the Midlands rounds of the International Kids' Lit Quiz, coming 2nd twice and 1st this year, coming 8th in the National Finals.

All pupils are involved in learning and reciting poems on National Poetry Day, when they also participate in the Poetry Quiz. There is an annual Poetry Competition, with entries from every pupil, some of which have been published. In 2007, three Year 8 pupils reached the final 100 in the international Foyle's Young Poets Award - out of a staggering 10,000 entrants, aged between 11 and 17. The standard of 2008 was also high and The Poetry Society rewarded the children with a visit from the poet Sian Hughes and awarded our Head of English with the title Teacher Trailblazer.

World Book Day is always tremendous fun. For the Costume Parade everyone dresses up as characters from books - from Tin Tin to Dracula or Jane Eyre.