Judges of an award for children’s literature divided opinion between 50 students with the announcement of the 2008 Carnegie Medal.

Seven books were short-listed for the prize. Members of the School’s reading groups met weekly to read them, shadowing the official judges.

There was a huge gasp and much discussion following the announcement of the winning book, ‘Here Lies Arthur’ by Philip Reeve, to which students had only awarded fifth place. Although there was not an outstanding favourite, girls had given their first place to the thought-provoking ‘Ruby Red’ by Linzi Glass.

School Librarian, Miss Hawker, explained: “All reading groups really enjoyed the experience of using their critical skills and were still debating who should have won when they were presented with their certificates for taking part!”