PICTURES: Characters come to life at Skegness schools for World Book Day

The charity which promotes the importance of reading is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Pupils at the Richmond School in Skegness were amongst those who got involved by dressing up as their favourite characters.

In the afternoon, Year 6 decorated a potato making their favourite character from a book.

Spilsby Primary Academy pupils took to the stage in a series of workshops with West End Schools.

During the sessions, run by a professional West End dancer and choreographer, pupils across the school were offered the opportunity to take part in dance and movement workshops, aiming to give a unique insight into books.

With different age-related activities on offer for each year group, pupils had the chance to create a new dance routine to retell well-known children’s stories from beginning to end. There were fabulous performances from Reception and Year One, who discovered ‘Where the Wild Things Are’; while Year Two classes performed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and pupils from Years Three to Year Six explored ‘Alice in Wonderland'.

Andrew Clarke, Executive Headteacher at Spilsby Primary Academy, which is part of Infinity Academies Trust, said: “As well as honouring the tradition of dressing up as book characters for World Book Day, we wanted to offer a different way for our pupils to celebrate this year.

“The West End Schools sessions that have taken place over the last few weeks were fantastic, inspiring the children’s imaginations and empowering them to enjoy storytelling and books through movement and performance.

"There is so much excitement about reading and books across our school, it is wonderful to see the children's love of reading growing not just for World Book Day, but every day."

World Book Day changes lives through a love of books and shared reading. Its mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own.

The World Book Day website says Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income.

"We want to see more children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and the improved life chances this brings them. Designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, World Book Day is marked in over 100 countries around the globe," the charity says.