Washington Academy, part of Consilium Academies, has  celebrated World Book Day this month. 

World Book Day was created by UNESCO in 1995 as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, it is marked in over 100 countries.  The World Book Day charity’s Strategy 2023-27 sets out that its aim is “more children, from all backgrounds, developing a life-long habit of reading for pleasure, benefiting from the improved life chances this brings them.”

Staff at Washington Academy dressed up as their favourite literary characters on the day and students took part in a bingo book hunt across the site.  The school also gave away 175 World Book Day books which students exchanged their tokens for and sold every second hand book they had on offer at their pop up sale!

16 students across the school were also given ‘Golden Tokens’ on the day for making excellent effort in their classes and many of them also chose to exchange their tokens for a brand new book. 

The World Book Day charity promotes reading by celebrating the joy of books, authors, illustrators and reading for pleasure, along with transforming attitudes and changing behaviours by providing content to promote reading for fun.  They also ensure that every child gets to choose a book of their own with the World Book Day £1 books and tokens. 

The National Literacy Trust’s Annual Literacy Survey, recorded the lowest level of reading enjoyment since the trust began its survey in 2005.  They found that just 2 in 5 (43.4%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2023, the lowest level since they first asked the question in 2005.  The survey also concluded that fewer than 3 in 10 (28.0%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they read daily in 2023.  

 Victoria Carter, Headteacher at Washington Academy said:

“Instilling a love of books in our young people is something I really want to do at Washington.  Ensuring that our students are equipped with the literacy skills they need to achieve their very best in all areas of their education is key and I hope that everyone will be getting stuck into their new books at home!”