Now in its 22nd year, World Book Day is an exciting and important event in the school calendar. Celebrated across schools in the UK, the event is a great opportunity for children of all ages to come together and really experience the pleasures of reading. Each year, children are given exposure to authors, illustrators and books to inspire and excite them about the wonders of storytelling.

Nurturing children’s love for reading is a priority for many schools, and for good reason. Reading aids many aspects of development and fuels an important thirst for acquiring knowledge and understanding of the world. It helps stimulate children’s imagination whilst cementing important language skills, and all through the power of telling stories. Vibrant and exciting characters can captivate any child’s imagination, so ensuring all children have access to books and the opportunity to be involved in such activities is supremely important.

One school that widely encourages literacy and reading is Devonshire Hill Primary in Tottenham — a school that partners closely with Zen Educate. They have set out bold plans to guarantee literacy levels across the school and make reading really accessible. Specific focus has been placed on promoting after-school reading. This ensures that children feel they have the freedom to really enjoy reading as a hobby, rather than just a classroom activity.

To support their plans, Zen Educate agreed to join in the fun on World Book Day and visited the school to hand out some prizes. What an amazing day! There was an explosion of colour, characters and excitement. Characters from a wide range of stories were represented in incredible costumes, from Pinocchio to the Queen of Hearts, with all members of staff getting involved.

Developing a long-lasting interest in reading takes dedication and time. World Book Day however offers a unique opportunity to bring stories to life for the day, and engage with children of all ages and teachers. It was wonderful to see how the day’s events clearly sparked the imagination of children at Devonshire Hill.

At Zen Educate, we really care about our schools and teachers and so we were truly excited to be part of a day that really brought to life the great work our schools do.

Don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what the children said about the day:

I enjoyed Book Week very much because some adults read books aloud that we read when we were younger. I also liked DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) because my friend let me borrow his book from home. It’s called Billionaire Boy and was written by David Walliams.

Year 4 pupil

During Book Week, I really enjoyed writing our class book. We had pictures, and from that we described the setting by using interesting adjectives, verbs and similes. Everybody wrote their own piece and, in the end, we put everything together in one class anthology.

Year 5 pupil

I dressed up as the main character from The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I chose this character as I was able to use my imagination by using the clothes that I already owned. I also really liked when the teachers read stories over the speakers.

Year 5 pupil

It was really fun dressing up because it was crazy and it gave me an amazing vibe. I was so proud to win as the Queen of Hearts!

Year 6 pupil