Students at Duke of Lancaster visited Woodspring House Care Home in Fakenham to spread a little literary love during World Book Day.
World Book Day takes place every year and inspires children to enjoy the life-changing benefits of reading. Students are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book characters for the day.
This year, teachers at Duke of Lancaster – part of Eastern Education Group – decided to visit Woodspring House Care Home for students to share their love of reading with residents, whilst Primary aged children visited the town library.
Penny Taylor-Jones – a class teacher and Secondary Phase and English lead at the school – dressed up as Frida Kahlo from the book series ‘Little People, Big Dreams’. She strongly believes in the power of reading, which events like World Book Day celebrate: “Reading is fundamental to all children and it’s where learning starts.”
She found the experience heart-warming and incredibly beneficial to students. She said, “It’s a lovely thing for them to come down and do this and reach a sense of community in this way.
“I thought it would be beneficial for both the residents and our children because our school has a communication and interaction need. So, this kind of interaction for them is really valuable and not something that they always get to experience.”
Chilu Stoker, a Teaching Assistant at the school, said, “I think it’s good for kids to immerse themselves in new worlds and different things. It’s so lovely for the kids to immerse in those characters and become those characters themselves by dressing up and just enjoying being able to read or even just looking at a book. So, there’s no pressure on the actual reading. Sometimes just looking at a book can give them that inspiration.”
9-year-old Remi is a student at Duke of Lancaster. He said, “I love World Book Day. It’s the best. And sometimes we get to go to school trips like this to the library.”
Emma Walpole, a senior carer at Woodspring House, said “It brings a lot of life and happiness to the residents. You look at their faces now and they’re just lit up. They love seeing children. It’s really nice to see that today.”
On World Book Day, lots of our schools celebrated including Chalk Hill, Exning Primary School and Stanton Primary School and Nursery, among others. Below is a photo from Chalk Hill.
