The wonderful world of reading has been celebrated in style by children and staff at Upton Junior School in Broadstairs.
Their World Book Day celebrations began with an assembly where the key theme that ‘reading is amazing’ was explored and shared to set the tone for a busy day of activities.
Assistant Head Teacher Gemma Scarr said: “World Book Day at Upton celebrated a very simple yet important message – reading is truly amazing.
“It is something that can change your life, it can make a bad day better, improve your understanding and transport you on all sorts of adventures.”
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of World Book Day each year group embraced a specific theme. They were: – Year 3/The Day The Crayons Quit; Year 4/Harry Potter; Year5/The Wizard of Oz; and Year 6/Alice In Wonderland.
Some year groups played their version of Harry Potter’s favourite sport Quidditch as part of the PE; art activities were everywhere to be seen as Year 5 children created contrasting settings for Kansas and Oz, ‘magic’ potions were made, and there were a lot of writing activities featuring different ideas, concepts and styles.
Year 5 and 6 readers explored the concepts of classic literature and discussed why the books that immersed them deeply were regarded as timeless pieces of writing.
Pupils also dressed up based on their year groups theme and there was also a teacher swap during the day where teachers went to another class and shared a book.
The day ended with a successful event for the whole school community. The Upton Great Big Read saw more than 500 students gathered on the playground with a book and shared their love of reading.
Deputy Head of School Dave Walker said: “It was such a wonderful day and there was a huge buzz around the school about reading.
“All the children were engaged and there was such a variety of activities going on throughout the school. It certainly built upon the love of creative writing and the appreciation of reading that we encourage throughout Upton.”