On Thursday 5^th March The Basildon Academies joined the 'World Book Day Reading Revolution' which aimed simply to inspire and encourage a passion for reading across all ages and across every genre.

Our very own Star-Books Café was one of the hubs of the activity as Lower Academy students enjoyed reading books they had selected. Budding readers found they could earn rewards by filling out questionnaires about the books they were reading; and enough stamps on their reward card meant hot chocolate, tea, cookies and cake to accompany their reading experience!  The venture was definitely a student hit, with Amy.B commenting: “It was a brilliant idea, we should definitely do it again!”

Capturing everyone’s’ imagination were the fascinating ‘SHELFies’ brought in by some of the teachers, where students had to guess from looking at photos, which bookshelf which volumes belonged to who. This proved extremely popular and gave everyone a few head-scratching moments.

Every subject had a part to play in the celebration of reading.  Lessons saw students exploring their subject area with at least ten minutes of inspirational reading material. In Art, students brought the magic of 'Alice in Wonderland' to life by using the original drawings to inspire their own creations, and the 'Humble Pie' autobiography by Gordon Ramsey was positively devoured during Catering lessons.  Some of our students also wrote their own book reviews to highlight literary treasures for their peers to uncover in the future. “It was so much fun”, Tehzeeb.F reported: “and was a great way to take your mind off things."

Celebrations continued at The Upper Academy with our Year 10 students deepening their knowledge and understanding of one of their key texts in the upcoming GCSE Literature Examination, as they took part in a nationwide broadcast of Macbeth. The Royal Shakespeare Company streamed a live broadcast of their 2018 production from the Globe, including an interactive segment with the actors designed to help the students bring fictional characters to life.

Upper Academy students were also given Book Tokens to provide them with opportunities to engage in reading material of their choice, either for pleasure or to support them in their success, in their upcoming exams and beyond!

So what would our students say are the perfect ingredients for a successful ‘Reading Revolution’?  For some it was discovering the more relaxed pace that comes from immersing yourself in a really good book; Adriana.R.T commented: “It was an environment with everyone socialising and reading and it made me feel comfortable and makes me want to read more”.  For others like Millie.D it was a chance to broaden their horizons: “The day has allowed me to discover many different genres of books to help expand my knowledge." For Angel.G it was about having the time to really get lost in a good read, and he admitted, “I’m already on chapter 14 of the book I chose!”

“The Star-Books Café was an excellent idea because it offered rewards for completing reading challenges as well as a nice calm environment for reading.” Alex.C

“I can’t wait for the next world book day!” Tehzeeb said enthusiastically, and from the reactions of the other students we are happy to pronounce this event a resounding success!

Click here for more photos of the day.

For more information about World Book Day visit; https://www.worldbookday.com/