Wednesday Word: Bonkers

The Wednesday Word is brought to you by Y7 bookclub, who have defined and illustrated some of their favourite words in a continuation of last year's vocabulary challenge.

Wednesday Word: Ocean

The Wednesday Word is brought to you by Y7 bookclub, who have defined and illustrated some of their favourite words in a continuation of last year's vocabulary challenge.

Hogwarts Students In Disguise at GCH!

Last Thursday saw an unexpected development in inter-school co-operation, as up to 60 GCH students revealed that they are, in fact, students of the famous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

“I had no idea school could be so magical”

As our Greycoat girls arrived for the Harry Potter Book Night Party in the Library last Thursday, they were identified by the Sorting Hat, and astonishingly every one of the sixty attendees turned out to be from one of the four Hogwarts houses of Griffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff.

  Dangerous criminals among us…

Terrifyingly, as students left the sorting ceremony they were called by an officer of the Ministry of Magic to be photographed for their files – be warned – there are criminals among us!

“These creatures are AWESOME!”

Hufflepuff house began their lessons with Magical Creatures, taught by Nymphadora Tonks. Chosen creatures were later voted on by the teachers and prefects to find an overall winner (Slytherin’s Swamp creature).

Other lessons included Charms and Transfiguration with visiting Professors Cooper and Sinclair, and Hogwart’s own seer Sybil Trelawney gave a lesson in Divination with paper and pencil.

Professor Trelawney and Nymphadora Tonks

“Chocolate is the best thing”

Professor Lupin was sadly unable to attend the party, owing to lunar-related research that had a prior claim on his time. However, he left his mark in the party bags handed out to departing students with a bar of Honeyduke’s chocolate, especially recommended in case of Dementor attack.

We would like to thank Honeyduke’s and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes for sponsoring this popular event. 

The Week of Vocabulary...

Improve your word power with a vocabulary-boosting sentence on the wall of words!



Lunchtime in the Library was very busy today, with queues of girls eager to grab a post-it and add their favourite word - in an appropriate sentence - to the display for the week of vocabulary.
We already have some lovely suggestions, I especially like these, although I hope the first is not based on experience...

She glanced around and then, surreptitiously tucked the book under her coat; the whole operation took less than 30 seconds.

She was worried to her bone, she could do nothing about what lay ahead in the mysterious future.

She lay there in the dark and worried about her future as the chaos was outside.

"What is the matter with you? You look flabbergasted!"

I lollop to the lovely Library.

The dilapidated old house looked as though it had been abandoned for some time.

Curiosity is key for a developed mind.

The Grey Coat Hospital Most Popular Books September 2013-May 2014

We've had the most popular authors, but what are the most popular individual titles at the Grey Coat Hospital? This list might surprise you!

12. Class A by Robert Muchamore [taken out 30 times]
11. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick [taken out 31 times]
= 10. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks [taken out 32 times]
=10. Girl Missing by Sophie McKenzie [taken out 32 times]
=9. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness [taken out 35 times]
=9. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson [taken out 35 times]
8. The City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare [taken out 36 times]
7. Maximum Security by Robert Muchamore [taken out 38 times]
6. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare [taken out 39 times]
5. Dead Gorgeous by Malorie Blackman [taken out 43 times]
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins [taken out 55 times]
3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green [taken out 63 times]
2. Wonder by R. J. Palacio [taken out 70 times]
1. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman [taken out 71 times]

13 years after it was first published Noughts and Crosses continues to delight and inspire both staff and students at the Grey Coat Hospital.

The Grey Coat Hospital's 12 most borrowed authors January- April 2014

Top 12 most borrowed authors January- April 2014

12 Jeff Kinney [10]
11 Louise Rennison [5]
10 Cathy Cassidy [6]
9 Anne Cassidy [New Entry]
8 Ally Carter [New Entry]
7 Mary Hooper [8]
6 Meg Cabot [3]
5 Cassandra Clare [New Entry]
4 Sophie McKenzie [7]
3 Malorie Blackman [4]
2 Robert Muchamore [2]
1 Jacqueline Wilson [1]

Jacqueline Wilson and Robert Muchamore keep their top spots, but the number of loans is much closer than last time we looked – Jacqueline is only 8 issues ahead on 153.

Nice to see some new entries, Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series has been widely recommended, and Ally Carter’s spy girls have found a whole new audience in year 7.

Did you notice that 10 out of the 12 are women?

Honourable mentions to John Green at no.14 – if we had enough copies of The Fault in our Stars for the people waiting to have one each, then he’d be much further up the list! (there are 10 copies and they are constantly out!)

And still in the top hundred most loaned authors are J R R Tolkien, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton and  C S Lewis – you can’t keep a good book down!

Being a Pupil Librarian

Today's post is written by another of our pupil librarians, Alice, who has written about 

I am a pupil librarian, and I have no idea how to go about writing about this job. I suppose I could start by describing it, but when one is in a library full of books that are full of words, you learn that using the right ones is very important.

I suppose a good thing to start with would be about books, but it is my philosophy that it is far better to be reading an actual book than any kind of most-likely-less-interesting blog post about what it’s like to work in a library. So if you have something good to read, I implore you to start reading that instead.

Working in the library is… wonderful. Fantastic. Enriching. Interesting. It provides so many opportunities and chances to gain experience, and I couldn’t think of any better activity to fill a mind numbingly dull lunchtime. Being a pupil librarian teaches you both how to organise and how to be organised, and you get to understand how the system works, learn your way around the library, recommend books, and sometimes even meet with authors. Some may consider things like putting away books boring, but some of my favourite books are things that I have found while putting away, and I don’t find it dull at all to see what my peers have been reading. If you have a keen interest in books and would like valuable experience for working life, this is the job for you.