Over the first half of the summer term some of our students had been working away behind the scenes outside of lessons on their entries for the new Shakespeare Competition that asked students to design either a graphic novel page or a book cover inspired by a Shakespeare play.

The standard of entries was exceptional across both KS3 and KS4 with students getting creative and rethinking the designs of classic plays ranging from ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ to ‘Macbeth’. I launched the competition as an initiative from my role as Head of Academic Scholars in conjunction with the Library focus on Shakespeare Day (23rd April) and encouraged students to try reading the plays either in their original form or a student-friendly version.

From the entries, a selection of five finalists were selected which included, Maeve, Daniella, Lewis, Rutvi and Riyana. On Friday, 5th June they were invited to a small reception in the Library where they received donuts and hot chocolate as well as a Shakespeare-themed book mark as a recognition of their hard work regardless of the outcome.

Riyana (KS3) with her interpretation of Romeo and Juliet and Maeve (KS4) with her striking image of the theme of Macbeth, were crowned the winners of each age group. You can marvel at the finalists’ entries below.

• Kate