Discovering the Magic of Words and Pages: English Fest 2026
From 31 August to 2 September, our school celebrated English Fest 2026, three days filled with books, characters, performances, competitions and opportunities for students to use English in creative ways.
With the theme “Discover the Magic of Words and Pages,” this year’s celebration brought together students from ELC to Year 12. English Fest continues a school tradition of setting aside time to revisit literature and the English language beyond regular lessons, giving students opportunities to read, speak, perform, design, compete, collaborate and simply have fun with English.
When the Stories Came to Life
The celebration opened on Monday with one of the most colourful highlights of English Fest: the Book Character Costume Parade. Even before the first student stepped onto the runway, a trumpet sound effect caught everyone’s attention, followed by the dropping and unrolling of the English Fest banner. The cheers that followed brought instant excitement to the venue.
Then the characters started coming.
From ELC to Junior College, students made their way down the runway in costumes inspired by authors and stories ranging from Mo Willems, Julia Donaldson, Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl to Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, classical mythology and Shakespeare. Some confidently played their characters; others simply smiled or waved. All of them had their moment as classmates, teachers and the rest of the
school cheered them on.
For those few minutes, the books were no longer sitting quietly on shelves. Their characters were walking through the school.
Stories, Activities and a Book Fair
The celebration continued throughout the three days with activities suited to each year level. Our ELC and Primary learners enjoyed Show and Tell, Parent Guest Reader sessions, story and passport challenges, creative design activities and literacy games. Their English Fest experience also included
performances such as This Little Piggy, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, a Year 1 choral recitation and a Year 2 Beatrix Potter Celebration. ELC students also received special tokens from our sponsor, I Can Read.
Secondary and Junior College students took on a different set of challenges. Year 7 worked on The Great Book Pitch, Year 8 competed in the Spelling Contest, and Year 9 took part in Speed Chat with Book Characters. Year 10 students reimagined book covers, Year 11 students prepared and delivered speeches, while Year 12 shared their work through interactive poster presentations. Wednesday brought many of these experiences together through the Brain Buster Contest, Spelling Contest Final Round, Year 10 A&E Exhibit, Year 11 Speech Showcase and Year 12 presentations.
Running alongside the festivities was our three-day Book Fair, organised with the help of the Library. Students had the opportunity to browse the books and other items on display, and quite a number went home with books of their own. For a celebration built around the magic of words and pages, seeing students choosing books they wanted to read was certainly a welcome sight.
It Took a School Community
Our sincere thanks to our students, parents, teachers, Mentors, Teaching Assistants, School Management, Admin Support Staff, Marketing Team, Library and our sponsor, I Can Read, whose support, creativity and teamwork helped make English Fest 2026 possible.
Until the Next Page…
English Fest lasted three days, but we hope the experiences stay with our students a little longer. For a few days, books left the shelves, characters walked through the school, and students became storytellers, designers, speakers, performers and presenters.
Perhaps that is what this continuing tradition is really about. Each year, we return to literature and language but find new ways to experience them and new ways for our students to be creative with them.
Until the next English Fest, may we continue to discover the magic of words and pages.
Shared by:
Mr Frederick B. Flores
PIC of English Fest 2026–2027
Ms Christine B. Monzon
Co-PIC of English Fest 2026–2027