Throughout December and over the Christmas period, Shiplake College staff and students took part in the College’s first ever ShiplakeBokaFlod.
This is a twist on ‘Jolabokaflod’, which is a tradition originating from Iceland where, on Christmas Eve, books are exchanged and families spend the rest of the night reading, wrapped up in a blanket, in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate.
Jolabokaflod which translated into English literally means ‘Christmas book flood’, started during World War II when paper was one of the few things not rationed in Iceland. Because of this Icelandic people gave books as Christmas gifts, and Jolabokaflod was born!
To get the tradition started at Shiplake, Mr Richard Ebbage, Assistant Head Academic, organised a series of events to encourage the whole school to get involved in reading together.
In early December, there was a book swap shop event where staff and students were invited to bring in books they had read and swap for a new ‘fresh’ read. Then, a few days later everyone came together for a ‘Drop Everything and Read’ session, around the Christmas tree in the Great Hall with a hot chocolate.
On Christmas Eve, lots of people from the Shiplake community took part in their own ShiplakeBokaFlod and shared photos of their families reading together on social media using the hashtags #ShiplakeBokaFlod and #ShiplakeReads.
Finally in the first week of this term, the Big Book Bus from Browns Books visited the school, where staff and students could hop on board and have a look at and purchase books from the range of exciting titles on offer.
Mr Ebbage, said: “This was the first year Jolabokaflod had come to Shiplake and it was a great success!
“When I first read about the tradition of swapping books and reading together around the Christmas tree, I instantly knew it was something that would go down well at Shiplake.
“We kicked things off with a book swap hosted by Mrs Bayley in the Thinking Space. This was followed up by a Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) where every student in the school took a lesson out to read their books around the tree with a hot chocolate.
“Finally, we had The Big Book Bus visit to help with the collective new year's resolution of reading more.
“I am really pleased how much everyone bought into ShiplakeBokaFlod - thank you to all the staff and students who helped with the various events; I hope this is the start of a new tradition at the school.”
