Festival of Reading

Festival of Reading 2025 Poster

We are thrilled to hold our annual Festival of Reading, which took place from Monday 3rd March to Friday 7th March. This week-long celebration was dedicated to fostering a love for reading among our pupils, as we championed the fun and transformative power of books. With reading dramatically impacting a child's future happiness and success, we are committed to reversing the current trend where only 1 in 3 children express enjoyment in reading. 

Throughout the week, children engaged in a range of stimulating activities specially designed to inspire a lifelong habit of reading for pleasure, including a theatrical production of The Railway Children, which is sure to ignite their imagination. Children also participated in live author events, allowing them to interact with renowned writers and gain insights into their creative processes. 

In addition to this, we took part in a BBC Live Lesson, offering a unique opportunity for pupils to engage in interactive learning. Our Magic Writing Workshop unleashed their creativity, equipping students with new skills and techniques for storytelling. As it was also World Book Day during this week, on Thursday 6th March, each child received a World Book Day token, which could be redeemed for a brilliant read! Head over to World Book Day to explore the books that were available.

On World Book Day, we encouraged children to dress up as their favourite book character to further immerse them in the joys of reading. World Book Day was the headline event of our Festival of Reading—a day everyone was eagerly anticipating! We were absolutely blown away by the children's costumes this year; they were simply amazing! The corridors buzzed with energy, laughter, and a splash of colour. From Harry Potter characters to Marvel superheroes, and from classic fairy-tale figures to exciting new comic book characters, it was such a joy to see how wholeheartedly the children embraced the spirit of World Book Day. This lively celebration of reading truly showcased the fun and magic that literature can bring to young minds. 

Competitions were held throughout the week, and participants were rewarded with exciting prizes. It was quite the challenge to locate Mr Garwood in his office during the festival, as he was rather engulfed by a mountain of extraordinary wooden spoon masterpieces! With hundreds of entries submitted, teachers faced a delightful dilemma in selecting the winners. It was clear that our talented children had invested a tremendous amount of thought and creativity into designing and decorating their spoons—fantastic effort, everyone! The splendid wooden creations will be showcased in the library for all to admire. Congratulations to the winners pictured below, who will receive a National Book Token to enrich their personal libraries with new books!

To add to this, pupils had the chance to buy many books during our Bowmansgreen Book Bonanza Sale, contributing to their personal libraries and raising over £200 to fund new books for our school.

Another highlight included our Reading Buddies activity, where children paired up to read together across the school. The week culminated in a special Reading Celebration Assembly on Friday, where we honoured the wonderful achievements of our young readers with fourteen Readers of the Week.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to FOBS for their generous donations, which supported so many aspects of this event. Earlier in the term, they reached out to Mr Garwood to ask if the school would be interested in new books, and the answer was a resounding yes! Each class eagerly created a Wish List of books for their reading corners, and FOBS made those wishes come true. During the special Celebration Assembly at the end of the festival, beautifully wrapped bundles of new books were presented to each class, igniting joy and excitement among the children who can’t wait to delve into their new stories! This year's Festival of Reading would not have been the resounding success it was without the unwavering support from FOBS.

Head over to our Instagram or Facebook for more posts about the festival. We can't wait to see our children continue to embrace the magic of reading!