Reading Champions Quiz: King’s take second place nationally

On Wednesday, 5 June, more than three months after being declared North West Regional Champions, Third Year pupils Yinnes, Eva, Prisha and Isobel travelled to London to take on 20 schools from around the country in the grand final of this year’s National Reading Champions Quiz. 

Accompanied by Head Librarian, Miss Brooks, the girls were unphased by the travel delays and used the extra time on the train to read more!

The quiz took place at the Victory Services Club where, following a recorded good luck message from Katherine Rundell, the teams faced eight themed rounds of tricky book-based questions, all presented by the regular and familiar host, Mr Dilly. 

As the scores were added up behind the scenes, the finalists were treated to a fantastic Q&A with five brilliant authors; Tom Palmer, Sita Brahmachari, Iszi Lawrence, Adiba Jaigirdar and Farida Abike-Iyimide took questions from the audience, giving a fascinating insight into their author journeys and the worlds they create in their books. 

There were big cheers from the King’s contingent when the final scores were announced and the team were confirmed in second place.

With just one point separating them from the winners, Mrs Brooks was very proud of the team.

She said: “This year’s final was much tougher than previous years and our girls did well to hold their nerve and answer so many of the questions correctly. 

“They enjoyed a brilliant, book-filled day, especially as they had the chance to meet some of their favourite authors, and they are really looking forward to spending the book tokens they have won over the course of the competition.”

As well as the book tokens, the students received four books donated by the publishers, a pile of books signed by the authors in attendance, and a framed certificate. They also received their regional trophy which will take pride of place in the library next to their certificate.

The annual event is organised by the National Literacy Trust and aims to celebrate reading culture within schools and encourage reading for pleasure, reading diversity and the development of reading stamina. 

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