Throughout the day, lessons began with staff reading a variety of book excerpts to their classes. These included historical fiction (‘The Bletchley Riddle’, ‘Sawbones’), fantasy fiction (‘Orphans of the Tide’) and domestic fiction (‘The Light in Everything’) for students in years 7 and 8.

Meanwhile, students in years 9, 10 and 11 heard excerpts from young adult literature including ‘Lark’, ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’, ‘Storm Catchers’ and ‘Our Infinite Fates’.

Students were given an opportunity to win a copy of one of the books by submitting a book review. This tasked them with using three words to describe the opening excerpt, asking them to write down what they were hoping to find out from the rest of the book and whether the extract had made them want to read more. An overall thumbs up or down rating was also sought, as were their thoughts about the book’s cover and what its cover design made them think about.

As part of a wider tutor group competition, each form was tasked with identifying staff members by the books contained on their home bookshelves. A number of staff provided their own ‘shelfies’ (photos of their bookshelves), with students encouraged to look for clues in the titles or topics being read.

Helping to reinforce reasons for reading, staff were also encouraged to share their ‘reading identities’ through posters on their classroom or office doors. This provided a platform for them to share what they’re currently reading, what benefits they think reading brings to them, what their favourite books are and their top tips for making reading enjoyable.

A further competition saw individuals tasked with matching book covers to their respective books’ opening lines. Twenty staff, including members of the school’s senior leadership team, teaching staff and support staff, each wore a lanyard displaying either a book cover or its opening text, with students encouraged to pair the staff to match the correct images with the corresponding text. 

Event organiser and lead for whole school literacy and reading, Laura Aldridge, said: “World Book Day has become an increasingly familiar part of the school calendar. We have worked hard to raise the profile year-on-year to the extent where staff and students actively ask in advance what we will be doing for World Book Day. The event has become an integral part of the school’s wider focus on reading and literacy.

“Staff feedback across the school has highlighted how keen the students were to be involved. They enjoyed being read to and the staff themselves remarked how much they enjoyed being able to take time out of their curriculum lessons to read to their classes. Students at Withernsea High School are no strangers to reading and it’s fantastic that World Book Day gives them an opportunity to engage with reading in a more informal way.”

Completing this year’s activities was a visit to the Hull branch of Waterstones, which saw 40 students from across years 7 to 11 visit the city’s largest book retailer. During the visit, students were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the store where they learnt about book barcodes and the numbering system that identifies a book with a particular country. Within this system, the students also learned about ‘Bookland’ – the informal name for a fictitious country that is represented by a numerical code on barcodes for the purpose of non-geographically cataloguing books.

Laura Aldridge said: “Visiting Waterstones was an absolute treat. It was a real joy to see the students genuinely eager to talk about books and browse a wide selection of them, before translating this enthusiasm into sales at the till. The shop’s staff remarked how several students made return trips to the tills and members of the public praised our students for their conduct. One lady even bought a group of students a hot chocolate each as she was so impressed with their manners and overall conduct.

“The purpose of the trip was to celebrate reading and recognise how important it is in many of our students’ lives – further reinforcing the work we are doing across the school community to promote reading for pleasure. The demand for this trip, which could have been filled twice over, and the enthusiasm of the students who were able to secure a place means we are now looking at running a further visit in the summer term. I would like to thank the staff at Waterstones for their hospitality, as well as our accompanying staff and students for making it a thoroughly enjoyable experience.”

ABOVE AND BELOW: A trip to Waterstones, Hull, on Friday 7th March proved popular with staff and students alike. 

BELOW: A selection of staff 'reading identities', displayed on office and classroom doors. These created a platform for staff to share what they’re currently reading, what benefits they think reading brings to them, what their favourite books are and their top tips for making reading enjoyable.