World Book Day '25 at Southborough

“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.” (Mortimer.J.Adler)

World Book Day is a registered charity on a mission to give every child and young person a book of their own. It’s also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world. And, quite rightly, it continues to grow in importance as each year passes.

This year WBD took place on Thursday 6 March and here in the UK, the event received lots of supportive coverage on both T.V and social media, albeit almost exclusively within primary school settings. Small children and their teachers were seen dressing up as their favourite book characters, a fun and effective way of engaging children in WBD activities.

However, as a secondary school, we don’t believe that dressing up and celebrating the love of reading should stop once a child leaves primary school. Indeed, we believe it’s more important than ever to continue the good work of WBD and engage our students via a special visit from a successful author, together with selection of interesting and fun activities such as a ‘Guess the Staff Reader’, Bookmark competition, creative writing workshops, a literary lunch and… dressing up as your favourite book character!

And as for the costumes, we weren’t disappointed! Both students and staff made a fantastic effort and the results are plain to see in the photos below:

A Cornucopia of Literary-based Activities

Throughout the day, student lessons were packed with a cornucopia of literary-based activities which included ‘Guess the Staff Reader’ competition, ‘Design a Bookmark’ competition, DEAR Time (Drop Everything and Read) and – for Year 7 and 8 – an assembly led by our guest, former Fleet Street & freelance journalist and successful author Tim Hall.

Tim spent the entire day with students talking about his own writing and delivering workshops to help them develop their own creative writing. The boys loved it!

Literary Luncheon

During lunch break, Senior Leaders Ms Linney and Ms Anderson hosted a special Literary Luncheon for selected Year 7, 8 and 9 students and staff to attend. With our guest author leading the event, our students were treated to a delicious spread of pizza, cakes, biscuits and jam tarts whilst taking it in turns to read extracts from their favourite books and explain to others why the books were so special to them.

To this end, our World Book Day was a cornucopia of wonderful activities and events, which students and staff enjoyed in equal measure.

Thanks:

In all, there was certainly a positive ‘buzz’ around the school and World Book Day got the attention and awareness in Southborough that it truly deserved! Many thanks must go to author Tim Hall and to Senior Leaders and English Teachers Ms Linney and Ms Anderson for organising such an exciting day. Thanks also must go to Ms Geering, Mrs Taylor and students Igor V and Alessio P for giving the library a truly ‘Festival’ vibe and helping with the Literary lunch.

Lastly, thank you to all students, parents and staff for their support on the day.

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About Our Special Guest

In his work as a journalist, Tim Hall has written for The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and various magazines. His acclaimed debut novel, Shadow of the Wolf, is a fantastical re-imagining of the Robin Hood legends. The story continues with his second and third novels, The Blind Bowman: Dark Fire and Wild Wood Rising. The trilogy has met with great critical acclaim and the books have proved to be incredibly popular amongst readers.