Wonderful World Book Day Celebrations

 Last Thursday was undoubtedly our best World Book Day yet! Huge thanks to Phoebe, Florie, Jade and all those in the English department who played their part in curating such wonderfully rich, diverse and most importantly, fun-filled activity days.

KS3, KS4 and KS5 kicked off the day with a ‘Drop everything and read’ session, quickly followed by a wonderfully engaging assembly from visiting author, Sally Gardner. Sally is a British children’s literature writer and illustrator. She won both the Costa Children’s Book Award and the Carnegie Medal for her book, Maggot Moon. Sally gave assemblies to Foundation and Level 1 students, conveying compelling messages that students were hugely engaged with. As always, there was a stream of questions from intrigued students, all clearly fascinated by the characters and narratives in Sally’s literature. 

More students and staff than ever dressed in costume for the day and it was an absolute joy to see the attention to detail so many had gone to. As promised, there were prizes for the best-dressed foundation students on the day. 

The student winners and their prizes were as follows:

First Prize
Antonio Cutolo Cavaliere as Mad Hatter
Kindle and 50 achievement points as their prize

Second Prize
Amber-Lily Cooke as Mad Hatter
Two books and 30 achievement points

Third Prize:
Inaya Carteron Peterson as Queen of Hearts
A book and 20 achievement points

World Book Day celebrations continued into this week with yet another visit from a prominent children’s author, Neal Zetter, a London-based comedy performance poet, author and entertainer who uses poetry, writing and performance to develop literacy, confidence, self-expression, creativity and presentation skills. Neal delivered a wonderful assembly and workshops for some of our older students at the Academy.  

Overall, it was two hugely successful and enjoyable days at the Academy. No doubt the English Department has thrown down the gauntlet to better this in future World Book Days!