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Young bookworms captivated by special sessions

5:20pm Thursday 21st March 2013 in News By Michael Benke

BOOK events from around the world have inspired several schools to use special methods to teach children the benefits of reading.

Children at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School were treated to the tales of professional storyteller and author John Harris.

He spent the day enthralling pupils with a variety of stories followed by a book signing session.

“It was an absolutely fabulous day,” said Julie Clark, the community coordinator for the school.

“The children were so excited and completely silent all day. It’s not very often you get to see a professional storyteller and it’s fantastic. I think the teachers were just as captivated.”

Wednesday was World Storytelling Day and it is hoped that the pupils’ experience will encourage them to read more books as well as prepare them for the next stage of education.

Julie said: “They dressed up for the day and really made an effort. I think today is a day that will stick with them for a long time.”

Ridgeway School, in Wroughton, broke with tradition and, instead of celebrating World Book Day, dedicated the last week of term to learning about books.

On Wednesday, staff from the bookstore Waterstones came to hand out free books to pupils. Over 300 books were presented to teach students the benefits of reading.

“It’s been so good to see the enthusiasm on their faces when they are holding a shiny new book in their hand,” said Sarah Day, the Learning Resource Centre Manager.

“We’d given them vouchers to collect and they were able to redeem them for a book today.”

The children have been participating in numerous activities throughout the week.

“On Tuesday we had staff from the local library over to teach pupils about how they can use the library and tomorrow we are having a ‘speed dating’ session, where the kids have to try to sell their favourite book to a friend,” she said.