World Book Day 2023
As the nation celebrated World Book Day on Thursday 2 March 2023, we as a Trust thoroughly enjoyed adapting this worldwide event across all our nine Trust schools.
The event was first created in 1995 by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copywriting; World Book Day is now a worldwide celebration across more than 100 countries. The mission now, is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child in full-time education the opportunity to have a book of their own, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Penshurst Primary were particularly focused on this, giving their students and parents the option to dress their child as either a word or a character from their favourite novel. Michelle Preston, Penshurst's Head of School, gave us her view on how the school celebrated World Book Day.
"With our country suffering with the current Cost of Living Crisis, we didn't want parents to spend a fortune on fancy dress costumes. Therefore, we wanted to implement an alternative option by allowing our students to use their imagination and create a customised outfit at home, representing a word. For example, one of our students came to school dressed as the word 'News' - she showed great initiative, simply using pieces of newspaper pinned to her top!"
Evie - Year 6 student at Penshurst Primary School dressed as the word 'News'
At Croxby Primary, another of our primary schools, students looked incredible arriving at school dressed up as a variety of characters from one of their favourite novels. This ranged from Disney Princesses and Marvel Super Heroes, to characters like The Gruffalo and Gangsta Granny!
As part of World Book Day, schools work with local bookshops to ensure all children from all backgrounds have the chance to experience choosing and owning a book of their own - for free. This scheme works by providing a £1 token for every child in the school, with them then going to a bookshop and exchanging this token to receive any World Book Day £1 book for free!
Kerry Mason, Headteacher at Croxby Primary, shared this heartwarming connection with Hessle Bookshop, their local bookshops.
"Instead of our students going to a bookshop, Hessle Bookshop kindly came to us at Croxby and brought a wide range of books suitable for all ages, interests, and stages of reading, so the children could swap their £1 token for a World Book Day £1 book of their choice."
"It was great to witness all the children selecting a book of their own and seeing the smiles on their little faces!"
Overall, World Book Day was a huge success for all the schools within the Trust. We strongly believe this event helps develop a life-long habit of reading for pleasure in our students, benefiting from the improved life chances this will bring to them.
