TKA Library

Today we welcomed our new Year 7 pupils to school for Transition Day and transported the library to the Catacombs of Paris to introduce our Summer Reading Challenge... @piudg.bsky.social @nosycrow.bsky.social @thekingstonacademy.org

Our 11+ Category winner was shortlisted last year in the same category, but came out with the crown this year for 'King of Nothing', published by @hotkeybooks.bsky.social Congratulations Nathanael Lessore! ✨📚🏆

Here they are in all their glory! Congratulations to all the 2025 Spark! Book Award Winners and a huge thank you to all the children and young people who read the books, entered the competitions, came to the author visits and voted for our winners! ✨📚🏆

TKA Library played host to the @sparkbookaward.bsky.social Final Award Ceremony yesterday, which was broadcast live on YouTube to 170 schools. Some of our pupils attended as the live studio audience and supplied some excellent drum rolls and applause! @thekingstonacademy.org

Year 7 & 8 enjoyed a brilliant author visit from @ravenaguron.bsky.social on Monday. She spoke about her journey to becoming a writer via law school, her obsession with Agatha Christie, and she gave us some practical insight into the publishing industry. Thanks for a fascinating talk!

The KS3 book club created this fantastic display to celebrate David Attenborough & Colin Butfield's new book #Ocean. Thanks to @readingagency.bsky.social & @johnmurrays.bsky.social for sending us this beautiful book! @thekingstonacademy.org

And everyone loved the magical lion in Oscar's Lion (particularly Oscar in Year 3) @sparkbookaward.bsky.social

Dungeon Runners was a hugely popular read in Year 3 & 4 particularly... @kieranlarwood.bsky.social @sparkbookaward.bsky.social

The votes are still coming in for the @sparkbookaward.bsky.social but here's what some of our Year 3 & 4 pupils had to say about the shortlisted books in the 7+ category...

This week we're voting for the winner of the @sparkbookaward.bsky.social - here's what some of our Year 5 & 6 pupils had to say about the shortlisted books in the 9+ category... 'This story gave me emotions!'

'Wild East' by Ashley Hickson-Lovence took us on an emotional journey: 'It shows how this person has developed over time.' 'I liked this book because it was quite chill (after the prologue) and there were no big plot twists.' 'Really nice, emotional and poetry. I like it.'

'King of Nothing' by Nathanael Lessore made us laugh: 'It was my favourite book I have ever read.' 'It's funny & relatable.' 'It was very entertaining and had a cool story line.'

'It All Started With a Lie' by Denise Brown kept us guessing: 'Suspicious as well as interesting!' 'An amazing storyline with great plot twists.' 'The plot twist at the end really caught me off guard.'

'Here to Slay' by Radhika Sanghani slayed with the students: 'It is very nice as you can learn valuable life lessons from it.' 'I think this book has a good variety of characters and reminds me of other stories.' 'They are a team and love each other a lot and are very close.'

We're voting for the @sparkbookaward.bsky.social this week and it's going to be a close call! Here's what our pupils thought of the books...

‘Who Ate Steve?’ by @susannahlloyd.bsky.social & Kate Hindley was particularly popular in Year 2 as it made us laugh a lot! @sparkbookaward.bsky.social

Year 2 had a lot of fun imagining what each of them would do... ‘If I were Prime Minister’ by @trygv.bsky.social & Ella Okstad, from 'I could do what I want' to 'I would make my house rainbow!' @sparkbookaward.bsky.social

Year 2 enjoyed the themes of facing your fears and being kind to animals in 'Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf' by @whycraigwhy.bsky.social & Francis Martin! @sparkbookaward.bsky.social

The Spark! reviews are coming in, in preparation for voting. Here's what our Year 2's had to say about 'Farah Loves Mangoes' by Sarthak Sinha - 'Fruit is not the only thing'. (Although there are plenty of mango fans in Year 2!) @sparkbookaward.bsky.social

Fern Hill Book of the Week: 'Why Did My Brain Make Me Say It?' by @bardymum.bsky.social. Brains are weird! But this poetry collection also demonstrates that brains are amazing in the way they can experiment with language. A playful, profound and authentic collection of poems - perfect for primary!

Thanks to the @readingagency.bsky.social & @johnmurrays.bsky.social for this beautiful gifted copy of 'Ocean' by David Attenborough & Colin Butfield, with gorgeous full-colour photo inserts. I can't wait to show the book club on Monday! 💙 #Ocean @thekingstonacademy.org

Introducing Merlin - the library apprentice… 📚🐈‍⬛ 🧙‍♂️

(He’s grown so much in the last few weeks he doesn’t even look like his cardboard cutout anymore!)

Happy Pride Month! Here are just a few of the fantastic LGBTQ+ books available in our library… 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🌈 @thekingstonacademy.org

The KS3 Book Club is excited to be reading and reviewing 'Fireborne' by Rosaria Munda for @readingrocks.bsky.social
We love a dragon story! 🐉📚❤️ @thekingstonacademy.org

My lovely author visit today. This is the BEST thing about being a children’s author!

Thanks to ‪‪Claire Linney for a fascinating talk at Fern Hill about Black Tudors, as featured in her time-travel adventure 'Time Tub Travellers and the Silk Thief', to enhance our Year 5 Tudor topic. @clairelinney.bsky.social

The final @sparkbookaward.bsky.social event took place last week with Ashley Hickson-Lovence, author of the powerful verse novel 'Wild East'. Ashley spoke about how the book was based on his own experience & how we can use our lives to inspire our writing. Thank you for a fantastic event, Ashley!

Here are some recommended reads for International Trans Day of Visibility 🏳️‍⚧️
#TransDayOfVisibility @thekingstonacademy.org

On Monday our KS3 Book Club, with some other schools, heard Denise Brown talk about her thrilling murder mystery 'It All Started with a Lie' - shortlisted for the @sparkbookaward.bsky.social. We also got to ask her some questions about her writing process - thanks Denise!

Some of our Fern Hill Year 4&5 pupils had a brilliant time yesterday listening to Rachel Chivers Khoo talk about her @sparkbookaward.bsky.social shortlisted book, 'The Magician Next Door'. (Appropriately, we went next door to TKA Library for the event.) Thanks Rachel for answering our questions! 🧙‍♂️🪄🏘️