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Celebrating 25 years of World Book Day, Blenheim High School participated in activities all week involving literature. Books encourage, guide and entertain us. They teach us tough lessons and even hold our hand during turbulent times. No wonder they’re called our best friends for life! Wouldn’t you agree that getting lost in a book is one of the greatest feelings?

World Book Day changes lives through a love of books and shared reading. Our mission here at Blenheim is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own. Reading for pleasure has social benefits as well and can make people feel more connected to the wider community.

Reading increases a person’s understanding of their own identity, improves empathy and gives them an insight into the world view of others (The Reading Agency 2015). We want to see more children with a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and the improved life chances this brings them.

On Monday 28th March, KS3 celebrated the 25th anniversary of Harry Potter and enjoyed a viewing in the library over lunch. With snacks at the ready, students were taken into J.K Rowling’s magical world of muggles and mystery!

On Tuesday 1st March, students across the school were invited to meet with LGBTQ+ and Young Adult fiction author, Simon Green. Tackling real life issues with a comical twist, Simon inspired students to start thinking about how they can include comedy in their writing. Looking at his popular series, Noah Can’t Even and Alex in Wonderland, Simon gave students an insight into the process of being an author, from drafting to publication. Simon even let us see his first ever novel, Gay Cats, which was extremely popular with the students!

A select number of students were invited to a workshop with Simon where they were given the opportunity to create their own comical narrative. Simon deconstructed the art of writing a narrative, teaching them how to create their own character. Using comedy from the outset, Simon encouraged students to make their stories complicated, make their character the underdog and pull on the heart strings of their readers. Students were engaged throughout and produced some amazing short openings.

On Wednesday 2nd March, students across the school attended ‘Blind Date with a Book’. With only a genre to choose from, students randomly selected a secret novel to keep. From football to crime the possibilities were endless!

On Thursday 3rd March, World Book Day itself, students from book club and teachers dressed up as their favourite character.

The Blenheim Book Club facilitated a cake sale during lunch break which was a great success! We saw The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come wandering the halls of Blenheim and Tigger was jumping around in reception! The Mad Hatter found herself eating all the brownies at the cake sale and the Queen of Hearts was unimpressed with Hermione casting spells all day! Dracula lurked in the shadows of the corridors and Coraline came back from the ‘other world’. Mary Poppins said that the day was ‘Practically perfect in every way!’

Finally, the week ended with a ‘Book Tree’ contest where students had to guess the number of books to win a prize.

A massive thank you to students, parents and teachers who have taken part, contributed and supported each event. We are proud to have such enthusiastic and committed students at our school and we hope that the love of reading continues, not just during World Book Day week, but each and every day.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

― Dr. Seuss