THE Masked Reader, Where’s Wally and Ready, Steady, Read were just some of the fun activities children enjoyed as part of World Book Day.

Pupils at Cooks Spinney Primary Academy, in Harlow, took part in a programme of events to promote the joy of books and reading.

The school arranged – 

• The Masked Reader…to celebrate books and stories, 15 members of staff wore a virtual mask or covered their face with a book and read an extract from their favourite story. Pupils had to guess who was behind each mask, before the big reveal to chants of “take it off”, as they had seen on the TV show. 
• The Fantastic Where’s Wally School Search…the Where’s Wally hunt saw pupils hunt for Wally hidden around the school. Those who found Wally received a certificate. 
• Ready, Steady, Read…to encourage a lifelong love of books and reading, pupils took part in a sponsored read in conjunction with Katie’s Book Barn, with all money raised going towards new books for the school library and reading corners. Pupils were sponsored to read as much as they could – books, comics, magazines, websites, recipes or TV guides – anything with words. They were encouraged to spend a small amount of time each day, either reading to themselves, to others, or being read to. 
• Usborne Book Fair…the Usborne Book Fair enabled families to buy books with the funds raised going towards new books for the school. 

Children and members of staff dressed up as their favourite book characters and took their favourite book into school.

Each pupil received a book token to exchange for a free book.

Magdalena Dackombe, English curriculum lead, said: “We value reading very highly and always aim to encourage our pupils to read more broadly, so celebrating World Book Day was an ideal occasion to promote and engage pupils’ interest in reading.”

The school raised £548 from Ready, Steady, Read, £125 from World Book Day donations and £94.98 from the book fair to spend on books.