Broadstairs pupils agree ‘reading is amazing’ on World Book Day

Dressing up to celebrate World Book Day 2022

Submitted to the Thanet Gazette

More than 500 pupils gathered on the playground with a book, to share their love of reading, at Upton Junior School in Broadstairs, Kent.

Upton's Great Big Read was just one of their events celebrating the 25th anniversary of World Book Day.

Celebrations began with an assembly where the key theme that ‘reading is amazing’ was explored and set the tone for a busy day of activities.

Each year group embraced a specific theme and dressed up appropriately:

• Year 3 – The Day The Crayons Quit
• Year 4 – Harry Potter
• Year5 – The Wizard of Oz
• Year 6 – Alice in Wonderland.

The day was full of fun book-related activities: some made ‘magic’ potions, while other children played their version of Harry Potter’s favourite sport Quidditch as part of PE.

In addition to lots of different writing tasks, art activities were everywhere as Year 5 children created contrasting settings for Kansas and Oz.

Year 5 and 6 readers explored the concepts of classic literature and discussed why some books were regarded as timeless pieces of writing.

There was also a teacher swap during the day where teachers went to another class and shared a book.

Assistant headteacher 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.”

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.”

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