Local schools celebrate World Book Day

Thousands of children and their teachers, dressed up as their favourite character to mark the 20th year of World Book Day on Thursday, 2nd March.

Schools across Wilmslow, Handforth and Alderley Edge joined in the biggest celebration of authors, illustrators, books and reading, which has spread to over 100 countries all over the world.

At Gorsey Bank the children came as their favourite character whilst the staff dressed up as Hogwarts professors.

Headteacher Lisa Woolley said "We did a 'Drop Everything and Read' at 10.50am and everyone (staff included) took some time out to read their favourite book.

"The children have also been tweeting pictures of themselves reading in unusual places over the half term holiday."

At St Anne's Fulshaw CE Primary School, the whole school dressed up to celebrate World Book Day and their love of reading and great books. Children spent the day learning and playing in their costumes and enjoyed lots of extra reading based activities. Staff also joined in the fun and the children enjoyed guessing who they were dressed up as. Some were easy to work out but others were much more obscure. The school was led by the Highway Rat, complete with mask, cape and sword! Many children took part in our World Book Day Quiz which was won by Callum Lloyd in Class 5, who successfully matched the most staff members with their favourite books.

Headteacher Ms Clare Daniel said "Children spent the day learning and playing in their costumes and enjoyed lots of extra reading based activities. Staff also joined in the fun and the children enjoyed guessing who they were dressed up as.

"Some were easy to work out but others were much more obscure. The school was led by the Highway Rat, complete with mask, cape and sword! Many children took part in our World Book Day Quiz which was won by Callum Lloyd in Class 5, who successfully matched the most staff members with their favourite books."

Staff and children at St Benedict's Catholic Primary celebrated World Book Day by dressing up costumes and talking about their favourite characters.

Headteacher Jane Gornell said "Parents joined in the celebration by attending an assembly and staying in school to enjoy chatting to other parents over a cup of tea or coffee. World Book Day has become a special day for the community of St Benedict's have fun and enjoy themselves whilst learning about some great author and texts."

At Alderley Edge Community Primary School they had a colour packed World Book Day as they celebrated the story "The Day the Crayons Quit" as a whole school topic.

Children and staff were encouraged to attend school dressed from head to toe in the colour of their favourite crayon. The day kicked off with a performance of the story by the staff who acted out each colour whilst dressed in it.

Children in each class then enjoyed different activities ranging from making, and eating, rainbow toast in Reception Class to writing and performing broadcasts in Year 6.

Headteacher Mr Perry said "World Book Day was an incredible day when the children from 4 to 11 years of age were totally absorbed, from the start to the end of the day, in the fantastic story 'The Day the Crayons Quit'."

At Alderley Edge School for Girls all classes from Years 3 to 6 adopted the theme of Jill Murphy's 'The Worst Witch' and enjoyed writing their film scripts and performing their chapters in front of the camera.

The younger girls dressed up as a character from their favourite book and their teachers for the day included the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, the March Hare and Alice from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'. They all enjoyed a Mad Hatter's tea party as part of their day whilst nursery and pre-school enjoyed looking at traditional tales, especially Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs.

The tables were turned as the teachers took to the stage for a reading competition which was judged by the girls. There were readings from 'Gobbolino' to 'Matilda' and 'That Rabbit belongs to Emily Brown' with Mr Earnshaw voted as the winner having read from 'This Book has no Pictures'."

Headteacher Miss Howard said "The whole Junior School from age 2 to 11 fully embraced this wonderful day. The school was buzzing with a range of activities celebrating the joy of books and reading."

Children at The Ryleys also celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as their favourite book characters and enjoyed taking part in a Where's Wally hunt around the school grounds.

During the day at various intervals, the children participated in a Drop Everything And Read, where they would stop their lessons to enjoy a good book.

Mrs Julia Langford, Deputy Head and Head of English said: "World Book Day is always a highlight in the The Ryleys School calendar. It's been a delight to see just how creative the children can be with their costumes, we've had some really fantastic ones this year! It's always great fun when the teachers get dressed up too as the children love to see them get into the spirit of the day."

See our previous article to read about how Lindow Primary School celebrated World Book Day by opening its new library named by the children 'Booktropolis'.

If you would like your World Book Day photos added to the gallery please email [email protected].