Every year book lovers and avid readers all over the world unite to celebrate the importance of World Book Day, a cherished tribute to the power of reading! Established by UNESCO in 1995, this special day promotes reading for pleasure while offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own. Inspired by Spain’s tradition of honouring Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare (both famous authors), it has evolved into a worldwide phenomenon. Schools just like ours, bookshops and libraries come alive with events and giveaways to encourage young minds to dive into the adventure of reading. For me and many others in our school, reading ignites imagination and passion, so even though World Book Day has ended, I still grab a new book and enjoy the celebration!

World Book Day at BGS

One of the widely celebrated aspects of World Book Day that our school hosted was the opportunity to dress up as your favourite book character for Year 7s and 8s! This event has been looked forward to by many throughout our school as it allows people to be able to express themselves and relate to one another through the means of sharing similar interests. Teachers and English Prefects also took part by sharing their favourite books (which can be seen in the reception area all year round) and bringing in props associated with their books! I’m sure many of us found that we liked the same book as one of the teachers, and if you haven’t yet, be sure to go and check them out, or simply ask your teacher to recommend you a book, as you might find that it becomes your new favourite!

As well as spotting students waving wands, donning camp-halfblood
t-shirts or carrying round props. In the reception area, we also had a Guess the Prop game, where students had to match up pictures of books with props on the table. The challenge was fun, and we saw many students excited to take part.

Throughout the day, English lessons included quizzes testing students' knowledge of famous books, characters, and authors. The enthusiasm was contagious as students competed to see who could answer the most questions correctly.

There were a series of World Book Day competitions that were judged on the day by English Prefects in the school library. These included: a post-it note story competition where students wrote a story on a post-it note; the Ultimate Book Reading Challenge, where students sent in pictures of themselves reading books in unusual ways and places; and a challenge to name the book titles based on the clues! Congratulations to Radhika Dhorajiwala for her excellent short story, and Isida Manolakou for somehow finding the most painful-looking way to read. Also, congratulations to Saanvi Trivedi for deciphering the clues and naming all the book titles correctly. The winners of these competitions won £10 book vouchers.

All Year 7 students also took part in the 500-word Short Story Competition (an idea ‘borrowed’ from the BBC!). Five Year 12s deliberated long and hard over the shortlisted stories, and finally agreed on a winner. Congratulations to Lily Popova in 7ACR for her fantastic story War Men (see full story below). Well done to the winners and everyone who took part. The English Department, Mrs Carey and the English prefects were all really impressed with the creativity and imagination of all the entries in the various competitions.

One of the most exciting parts of our World Book Day celebrations was the Author Visit.

Stephen Saleh (pictured top left below), published author of the graphic novel Dark Lines of London gave a Year 7 assembly and workshop. It was a unique opportunity to inspire our young readers and writers to explore their own literary talents.

A massive thank you to all the students, teachers, and staff who made this day so memorable, especially: Mr Griffin, Ms Adeaga and Mrs Carey. World Book Day is all about celebrating the joy of reading, and this year's events certainly lived up to that goal.

Keep reading, keep imagining, and see you next year for another incredible World Book Day!

Lucy Gowing, Year 12

Bexley Book Quiz

Eva, Tishe, Safaa, Oviya, Emilia and I went with Mrs Carey to Townley Grammar on Tuesday 4th March for the Bexley Book Quiz for Year 7s. Five other schools were there, including Townley, Chis & Sid and Blackfen School for Girls. Once we arrived, we were shown to the library. It was bigger than ours! We ate our lunch and then we got started. The first round was authors, and we did really well! There were 5 other rounds - two trivia rounds, ‘Where in the World’, guess the book character and film adaptations. We did really well as we came in first place! We were really happy, and we received certificates, a £10 book voucher and a trophy! Overall, it was such fun to do and all of us enjoyed it.

Jas Randhawa, Year 7