Lots of classroom fun marks World Book Day (From Dorset Echo)

Lots of classroom fun marks World Book Day

3:00pm Saturday 9th March 2013 in News By Harry Hogger

SCHOOLS celebrated the joys of reading as they marked World Book Day.

Local authors paid visits to schools and children got dressed up as their favourite literary characters to mark the occasion.

Children and staff at the Piddle Valley School celebrated by coming to school dressed as characters from their favourite Roald Dahl book.

Headteacher Tracy Jones said: “The costumes were amazing, thanks to the wonderfully-supportive parents and they put the children in the mood for a day full of activities focused on books, characters and storytelling’ Children also brought a book they had ‘outgrown’ for a recycled book sale and took a different one home for 50p.

At 5.30pm the children were all invited back into school for a bedtime story read by their teachers followed by a mug of hot chocolate.

During the day, money was raised for the Livingstone Tanzania Trust and will go towards school desks for a school in the African country.

Former Weymouth school teacher and author of the Stonewylde series Kit Berry spent the morning with students from the Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester before heading to St Osmund’s Middle School in the afternoon.

She said: “It’s been brilliant – at Hardye I was talking to the Year 9 talented and gifted pupils and they were fantastic.

“Then at St Osmund’s I talked to half of Year 7 who were all dressed up and they were brilliant.”

St Osmund’s also received a visit from Dorset author Sarah Lean, whose works include A Dog Called Homeless and A Horse For Angel.

She visited the school as part of the Booktrust’s Read My School scheme, which rewards pupils for their reading efforts with prizes for them and their school.

Illustrator of the Horrible Histories Martin Brown was another visitor to the middle school.

Youngsters from Sunninghill Preparatory School were not the only ones to dress up for World Book Day, as their teachers also came into school dressed as their favourite characters.

Even headteacher Andrew Roberts-Wray spent the day in his dressing gown as he came dressed as Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, while several of the children came as Wally from the Where’s Wally? books.

School secretary Lydia Hampshire said: “The whole school dressed up as their favourite characters, including the headmaster.

“Every child dressed up and so did most of the staff.”

In Weymouth, the staff and pupils at Beechcroft St Paul's Primary School dressed up as their favourite book characters. There was an array of characters including Where’s Wally?, Alice In Wonderland, Pirates and Mr Men. They were joined by Emma Collins, the assistant manager at Waterstone’s in Dorchester. She read a story to every class and afterwards the pupils were invited to exchange their £1 book tokens for a book from the range on offer this year.