Dressing up as favourite characters to celebrate joy of reading

CHILDREN at schools in and around Henley marked World Book Day on Thursday last week by dressing up as their favourite storybook characters.

Parents of pupils at Badgemore Primary School in Henley visited early in the day to read stories and the children took part in a Zoom call with Pamela Butchart, the author of Diary of a Future Billionaire.

The rest of the day was filled with book-themed games, including a quiz on Zoom led by several professional footballers from the Pemier League and Women’s Super League.

Year 4 pupils Kyia Hazel, Jolie James, Tallulah Cavanaugh, Emmie Katlan and Isla Giles came to school dressed as Winnie from Absolutely Winnie, Aslan from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Doddy Detective, Matilda and Rita from Rita the Rollerskating Fairy.

Jolie said: “What I love about World Book Day is that you can just pick up a book, find a character and actually dress up as it and pretend to be that character.

“When you pretend to be that character it sometimes feels like you’re in that world and then you’re having that great experience of what somebody else is feeling like.

“Sometimes at playtime we make up a story with our characters and sometimes make their own book with that. Today Talullah had do go on a secret mission to find what the witch was doing and we can put all of our story books together.

Emmie said: “I’m a big fan of David Walliams and Roald Dahl books so I thought it would be a great opportunity to dress up as Matilda and I’ve also watched the movie. I think the book has more description.

“My favourite part is when she goes to school and she finds Miss Trunchbull swinging the children around by their pigtails.

“I enjoy dressing up quite a bit and I relate to Matilda because she goes into her own imagination of books that she has read and sometimes my imagination goes wild.

“It’s really nice coming to school and seeing what everyone is dressed up as.”

Year 4 class teacher Lottie Botterill dressed up as Burgler Bill from the book with the same name.

She said: “I asked teaching assistant Nikki Butler to dress up as Burgler Betty and together we went around the classroom ‘stealing’ things throughout the day and got the children to realise what we were taking.

“One child dressed up as a detective and she very much took on the role of trying to find things that I had stolen. We read them the story as well so they all understood what was going on.

“I love all of the children coming in wearing costumes of characters that I’ve never seen before. I love how animated they are wanting to tell me about their story and about their character.”

Characters on display at Trinity Primary School in Henley included Mary Poppins and Elphaba, the witch from Wicked.

The whole school spent the day exploring the book The Word Collector by Peter Reynolds and took part in a treasure hunt to find words in the school grounds which made a quote from Winnie the Pooh.

They were shown videos from their teachers’, who had disguised themselves as animals and pupils had to work out who they were.

Prior to the event, pupils took part in an “extreme reading photo competition” where they had to submit a picture of themselves reading in an unusual place.

Deputy headteacher Caroline Newman said: “The pupils always go really big on World Book Day and we have got quite a big love of books here.

“All of our classes are named after authors so books are something that are really dear to us here and it has been really nice to see some of the children dressed in characters from their class names.

“We can all be quite separate in our key stages doing different things but it’s nice for us all to be doing the same activities. The school’s ‘reading champions’ have also had a chance to go around the school and read to younger children and the younger reading leaders. There’s a real sense of community around reading.”

At Rupert House School in Henley, pupils started the day at an assembly where they sang along to the World Book Day Song by MC Grammar.

Author Julia Gray, who has a child at the school, held a writing workshop with Year 6 pupils and all pupils were given a £1 book token to get a free book.

Year 3 pupils Sophia Mul, Primrose Molnar, Harry Classen and George Warner dressed up as “the wizard’s wife” from the Harry Potter books, Janet from The Smeds and the Smoos, Grandpa from Grandpa’s Great Escape, and Toad from the Wind in the Willows.

George said: “I just find Toad really funny. When the car hits the carriage, he was like, ‘poop-poop’. I just made the costume with stuff we had at home. I like World Book Day because you can dress up as whatever character you want.”

Primrose said: “I have a younger sister and an older sister and they came as Bill and the baby from the book.”

After school had finished for the day, a book sale featuring more than 1,000 used books donated by pupils was held. The proceeds went to Chiltern Centre and any unsold books would be donated to RAF Benson Primary School. Teachers and staff dressed up as their favourite characters from the Mr Men and Little Miss books series.

Headteacher Nick Armitage, who dressed as Mr Adventure, said: “Mr Adventure is just me, I love getting out and about and the children have a great sense of adventure, so I thought it was quite representative of the school.

“Reading is such an important base for learning, which informs the rest of academic progress so, for us, we try and instil that interest in reading in the children from a very early age. I go and read to the children in nursery, and love doing that.”

Children and staff at St Mary’s School dressed up as Mr Men and Little Miss characters.

Pupils took part in a poetry slam during an assembly, reciting poems they had rehearsed beforehand.

There was also a parade to showcase their outfits which was held in the playground led by the teachers.

The children also had two literature quizzes and everyone was invited to bring in their favourite books.

In the afternoon, they took part in a Big Write intitiative, a period of extended writing, to develop handwriting, grammar and punctuation skills before the children read stories aloud to each other with different year groups.

Charlie Burkitt, 10, who is in Year 6, dressed as Mr Strong which took about four days to put together.

He said: “We spray painted a white box red and then cut the holes out and it took me a while to draw the face on. I did it all myself.

“I decided I wanted to have weights with the outfit as well and since I play rugby for Henley Hawks and I play a lot of sports, I already have them.”

Charlie said he enjoyed performing the slam poem, From a Railway Carriage by Robert Louis Stevenson but his favourite part of the day was reading to pupils from the year groups below.

Florence Pratt, 11, also in Year 6, dressed as Little Miss Birthday. Her costume included two helium balloons and a parcel wrappped in pink paper and a ribbon.

She said: “Today was the day I was supposed to be born and Monday is my birthday and I couldn’t really think of anything else.

“I chose the accessories I did because I wanted it to look like the photos. I made it the night before. I really like the slam poetry and I also liked watching other people do it and looking at their costumes.”

Rosie Wilkinson, head of English and Year 3 teacher, said World Book Day is one of her favourite events of the academic year. She said: “They have all really embraced it. They’ve all come as amazing characters.

“Today also gives them a chance to spend time with different members of staff who they might not be taught by but it also gives them the autonomy to choose stories that they would like to listen to.”

Year 6 pupils at Sacred Heart Primary School in Henley ran a book sale in the hall in aid of CAFOD, the Catholic international development charity.

The children were invited to come to school dressed in their own clothes to enjoy a day of extracurricular activities focused on reading. Many dressed up as their favourite book characters.

The children participated in guess the book character quiz and a book scavenger hunt. Teachers at the school also held “Jackanory” sessions where they read extracts from their favourite books.

Alex Glen, from Year 4, dressed up as the wardrobe from The Lion, the Witch at the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.

He wore a cardboard box decorated with drawn-on wood panelling and bottle caps as doorknobs. The inside was decorated with images of a snowy woodland landscape complete with a clothes rail with miniature hangers and winter coats as well as gloves and a hat. The costume was finished with a miniature lamppost at the back which featured battery powered lights that could be switched on and off.

Alex, eight, said he had spent almost a week trying to make the costume with the help of his parents. He said: “I like to be tricky with my costumes. It took use five days to make it all.”

Children and teachers at Valley Road Primary School in Henley dressed in pyjamas and brought in their favourite teddies and books. In the afternoon they read books and drank hot chocolate.

Headteacher Tim Coulson said: “One of the great things about books is having that book time with your parents and the cuddling up with a story. We tried to conjure up that sense of magic in school.”

Kidmore End Primary School took part in activities across last week. Pupils dressed as their favourite book characters on Friday last week before certificates were given for the best dressed child from each class during their morning assembly.

The week began with a reading challenge, where children were encouraged to take on different tasks, such as “reading in an unusual place”.

The school welcomed poet James Carter to the school on Thursday last week, who led assemblies and workshops on poem writing and recital.