World Book Day became ‘Word’ Book Day, when children at a Norwich school put their own creative twist on the annual celebration of reading.

Pupils of all ages at Firside Junior School arrived on Thursday 5 March dressed to represent a word, giving them the chance to express their imagination and creativity – while members of staff also donned costumes for the occasion.

“World Book Day is always a firm favourite date in our school calendar at Firside, and, over the last few years, we have tried to think creatively about different ways to mark it,” explained Assistant Head of School Lucy Seagrave.

“From decorating potatoes to World Book Day hats, we decided we needed another fun way to engage the children with the day, so this year we decided on ‘Dress as a Word Day’ to celebrate the power of words. 

“Once again, our pupils – and staff – amazed us with their creativity, with costumes including word costumes for ‘rainbow’, ‘adventurous’, and ‘magical’.”

The creativity continued, with themed activities taking place throughout the day, and the pupils even able to choose lunch from a bespoke World Book Day menu.

“Children also took part in special World Book Day-themed activities and enjoyed a themed lunch from our caterers, Aspens, with ‘Neverland burgers’, ‘Jack’s beanstalk burrito’, and ‘Paddington’s orange marmalade sponge’,” continued Mrs Seagrave.

To round off the event, the children had the chance to use their World Book Day vouchers – all while raising money for the library at Firdale, which is a member of the Wensum Trust.

“As part of our World Book Day celebrations, we also welcomed the visiting Scholastic Book Fair, which gave children the opportunity to buy new books, using their World Book Day vouchers to reduce the cost, and, by doing so, helped to raise money for the school to buy new books too,” added Mrs Seagrave.

“At the last check, we had taken sales of over £1,200, meaning we have got over £600 to spend on lovely new books for our school library for all the children to enjoy.”