Bedales celebrates World Book Day
Pupils and staff at Bedales Schools marked World Book Day 2023 with not just a single day, but a week of activities celebrating a love of books and reading.
On World Book Day itself – Thursday 2 March – pupils and staff across the three schools dressed up as literary characters for the day. Costumes ranged from Alice in Wonderland, Puss in Boots and Harry Potter to characters from plays such as Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's The Crucible and novels including Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey and George Orwell's 1984.
To mark the day, Block 2 (Year 8) pupils from Bedales Prep, Dunhurst and Block 4 (Year 10) students from Bedales Senior gathered in the Memorial Library for a story sharing afternoon. Bedales students shared the creative writing they have been working on in their IGCSE English imaginative writing coursework, while Dunhurst pupils shared a range of pieces they have written this year, including lyrical descriptions of nature and dark Gothic settings, as well as retrospective narratives on the theme of friendship inspired by The Tulip Touch by Anne Fine.
At Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie, children showed off their costumes at a World Book Day Parade in the playground, complete with very animated in-character poses. This was just part of the week of celebrations at Dunannie, which began with visits from staff from Bedales Prep and Senior Schools, who read their favourite books to the children – with some even dressing up as a character from their chosen book.
The children also had the opportunity to present their favourite books in assemblies and their drawings and paintings of literary characters were displayed in the library. Children’s author Ann Bryant also visited Dunannie to share her book, Peter and the Timber Wolf, and delivered a variety of lively workshops designed to help the children think like writers.
Now in its 26th year, World Book Day celebrates books and reading in over 100 countries across the globe. Its mission is to promote reading for pleasure – the simple biggest indicator of a child’s future success.
Bedales Head of English David Anson said: “We celebrate the importance of reading at many points in the year here at Bedales but World Book Day is a great opportunity for us to celebrate not only a richness of literary history but also to celebrate the liberty and freedom that reading can enable in a better appreciation and understanding of the world around us.”
World Book Day | World Book Day at Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie | Memorial Library | Ann Bryant
