In celebration of Shakespeare’s four hundredth anniversary, staff and students enjoyed a range of events and activities, which showed just how fun and current Shakespeare can be.

The English Department dressed up as a different Shakespeare play and students were challenged to identify 10 different ones, improving their knowledge of Shakespeare’s works. Dressing as a whole play rather than a character tested the department’s creativity as well, but they rose to the challenge and all looked fabulous, with Miss Phillips winning the prize for best costume.

Some members of staff embraced the opportunity for a bit of amateur dramatics and performed scenes for students to enjoy at lunch time. Mr Clatworthy got particularly into his role and performed in three different places, including standing on a table to deliver Mercutio’s famous Queen Mab speech to the students in the queue for the Dining Hall.

Within lessons, students took part in quizzes to try and identify whether quotations were ‘Bard or ballad’ and ‘Bard or Bible’, proving just how popular and relevant Shakespeare’s language still is. Students also engaged in using Shakespeare’s language themselves by creating their own insults in class, which was a creative way for them to experiment with the language.

The College had a wonderful buzz about it throughout the day, with everybody enjoying the activities and learning something at the same time.