With outfits ranging from Roald Dahl’s beloved bookworm Matilda to a clan of Warrior Cats, girls from the age of four to eleven swapped their usual uniforms for inventive costumes ahead of the school’s annual Book Fair week.
Prep School teachers also came dressed to impress for the day’s celebrations. Characters ranged from David Walliams’ daredevil jewel thief, Gangsta Granny, to chimney top-hopping super-nanny, Mary Poppins.
This inspiring day has launched the Prep School’s ever-popular annual Book Fair. Every year the school’s library morphs into a bookshop jam-packed with titles that the school’s teachers recommend for pupils’ literacy development and literary enjoyment.
The fair runs from Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 February, from 3.45 pm to 5.00 pm.
The books are supplied by Scholastic and the school earns a commission from every purchase, which will be spent on books for the Prep Library.
Recent research conducted by the National Literacy Trust shows that by the age of 14, children who enjoy reading have a reading age 3.3 years ahead of their peers who don’t enjoy it. Further research by the Trust, published last September, revealed that children with above-average reading skills are three times more likely to have good mental wellbeing than those with reading skills below the level expected for their age.
With this in mind, the school’s youngest pupils are always encouraged to challenge themselves with the books they read. Older girls even regularly take part in buddy reading sessions with younger pupils, in order to share their passion for literature and improve their literacy skills together.
