The annual celebration of books and reading that is World Book Day was celebrated in fine style at Surbiton High Senior School this year, with a host of events and activities taking place on and in the lead up to Thursday 7 March.
For the first time, we ran a Book Drive for the Children’s Book Project across the week. The whole community was invited to bring in books that this wonderful charity then passes on to children who have no books of their own. The response from pupils and staff alike was tremendous, with hundreds of books donated to this excellent cause.
On the day itself, Surbiton High School also undertook DEAR (“Drop Everything and Read”) during form time, a scheme which resulted in everyone across the whole School reading simultaneously at the start of World Book Day.
This served as a suitable prelude for the engaging author talks that Years 7 and 8 were treated to from Ben Davis. Interspersing creative writing tips with laugh-out-loud extracts from his novels, Ben both entertained and informed his audience, making for a rewarding experience all round.
In another first, Surbiton High School also ran a surprise, special Head of House event: World Book Day Taskmaster, inspired by the hit TV show! Our seven intrepid Heads of House put themselves through two separate challenges of whimsical literary silliness: a pre-recorded segment shown in SLT assemblies across the week, followed by a live event in the Main Hall at lunchtime on World Book Day. Miss Cattell, Head of Curie house, emerged victorious when the scores were added together. A big thank you to our brave Heads of House for agreeing to take part in this unique challenge!
Finally, as has become tradition, World Book Day also saw an astounding array of literary costumes from staff and students alike. Characters from beloved classics such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan to more recent favourites such as The Hunger Games and Harry Potter were all on display and helped generate some real joie de vivre around the School on the day. Thanks to all who took part, and we look forward to celebrating again next year!
