Pupils and staff share love for reading during World Book Day

Across the College we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of World Book Day today where we recognise books, authors and promote reading for pleasure. The global theme this year is ‘you are a reader’, encouraging all children to discover a love for reading.

In Junior School we saw pupils and staff arrive at Schoolhill dressed as a character from their favourite book. Nursery to P7 delighted their peers with a variety of outfits during a themed assembly in MacRobert Hall. They also brought their favourite book and shared this with their class. 

Mrs Webb, Head of Junior School shared: “We are all delighted to see the return of our popular World Book Day events. It was lovely seeing children and staff  in their World Book Day costumes. Today has been even more special because  as a Junior School we have joined together for our first live, in person, whole school assembly in the MacRobert hall since March 2020.  Our children in P7R have led our assembly where the Masked Readers were revealed and amazing costumes shared!  It really is a great day bringing the community physically together to celebrate our love of reading.

“Reading for pleasure is something that is evident throughout our year groups all year round, but World Book Day is a fantastic opportunity for children to show their enthusiasm and bring their creative sparks to showcase their favourite characters with their friends.”

Mrs Lloyd-Wiggins, Junior School Librarian highlighted: “World Book Day is an exciting and fun way for our pupils from Nursery through to P7 to express their passion for reading. It is always a hot topic of conversation in the lead up to the event, whether that is when pupils are visiting the annual book fair or when they are in their weekly library classes. I enjoy hearing them discuss what characters they will portray and the creative ideas they have for their costumes.

“We are happy to see the return of the physical Book Fair from the 2nd to 8th March this year. This is always a long-anticipated event, popular with all pupils who visit with their classes and enjoy time spent browsing all the lovely new books and choosing the titles they would like to buy. The Junior School receives a commission on all the books sold at the BookFair, and in previous years this has amounted to around £3000 worth of books for the Library and throughout the Junior School.” 

Over in Senior School, Mr Clement and Miss England hosted the annual World Book Day Quiz at lunchtime in the Senior Library for S1 and S2 pupils, which also raised money for the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association charity. S3-S6 participated in events during their Form class to earn points for their Houses. During English periods, S1-S2 pupils created a 'graffiti wall' for the classroom, where pupils displayed the name and their star rating of a book they have finished reading. English teachers also organised challenges, games and quizzes for pupils to tackle during their fortnightly Library periods.

Miss England, Teacher of English, commented: “World Book Day is one of the best days to be an English teacher. It’s a day where everywhere you turn, people are talking about books, sharing recommendations and celebrating their favourite stories. It’s a powerful reminder that we are all readers, even if we’re guilty of taking a short hiatus every now and again. This year, we encourage all of our pupils to remember a time when they fell in love with a book and to recapture a little of that magic once again. It does not matter if that means walking back through the corridors of Hogwarts; re-reading Greg’s diaries; or retracing your steps through the mountains to Mordor. Maybe going back and reading the last thing that truly made us excited to read might reignite our desire to find the next great book.  After all, as C.S. Lewis said, “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”

Mr Clement, Head of Senior School Library added: “As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of World Book Day, it is a reminder to us all of the transformative power of reading. Great literature has the profound ability to broaden our individual reality, it can make us laugh and it can console us, indeed, as Edmund Wilson observed, ‘What a sovereign remedy is a book for the distempers both of the mind and of the body’. Set yourself the challenge of reading a new book - you never know, it may just change your life!”