World Book Day Competition

The 06^th March 2014 saw the return of World Book Day, which has been designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a worldwide celebration of books. The celebration is now in its seventeenth year and celebrated in over 100 countries worldwide. The aim of the day is to encourage children to read books for pleasure and also provide them with the opportunity of owning their own book.

The event is marked in a variety of ways, in UK schools, children and staff are encouraged to dress up as a character from their favourite book. Children are also entitled to receive a £1 book voucher which they can exchange for one of eight books especially published for World Book Day, or they can redeem it as part payment for a book of their choice.

To celebrate the day New Directions Education in Wrexham held a competition with their schools. Schools were asked to send in photographs of the staff and children dressed up. The best dressed were then chosen and won £50.00 for their school.

Jenna Whittam, Branch Manager at New Directions Wrexham commented “World Book Day is a big day in the calendar for our local schools. It is a fantastic celebration with the aim of getting children reading for fun. There are many benefits of starting reading early, children who read and share books are more likely to have better language skills. It is also a good way to get their imaginations fired up’.

Mrs Efiona Price- Williams, Head Teacher of Ysgol Glan Conwy who won the competition was delighted and commented  “It is fantastic news that a child from our school won the competition for New Directions best dressed child for World Book Day.We had an amazing day and all the children dressed up as characters from their favourite books and we had a real fun day, it’s a great way to promote World book day’

Rebecca Macintyre, Account Manager at New Directions Wrexham who presented the cheque to Mrs Price added  ‘At New Directions Education we are always looking of ways to support the local schools we work with. World Book Day was a great opportunity for us to get involved. We really enjoyed seeing the pictures come through of the staff and children throughout the day. It is lovely to see the effort the schools and parents go to, I hope this prize can help support the school in building up their library and encouraging the children to read more’.