School kids across the district celebrated World Book Day in their own unique ways by dressing up as their favourite book character.

From, Where’s Wally to Mary Poppins, youngsters and teachers dressed up to the celebrate the 24th annual event held on March 7each year.

To honour the joys of reading, Epping Forest Guardian has composed a roundup of the unique activities and creative costumes schools conjured for this year’s celebration.

Hereward Primary School

Pupils arrived enthusiastically at the school gates in Colebrook Lane, Loughton, last Thursday, to show off their outfits to their classmates.

English coordinator, Mrs Hilton, said: “Walking through the school today, there was an exciting buzz. Reading is such an important part of our school ethos and it was wonderful to see the magnificent characters from a range of books.”

Alderton Infant and Junior School

One day wasn’t enough to celebrate World Book Week for teachers and students in Alderton Hall Lane, they spent the whole week taking part in events.

A writing competition was held based on Australian author Shaun Tan, followed by a reading breakfast buffet where parents and children read and ate together.

A statement released by Alderton Infant and Junior School said: “We’d like to thank all of our parents for their support on the day. The children loved having them there and were excited to share their learning with them.”

Leverton Primary School

The Waltham Abbey school took a very different approach by letting pupil’s makeover either an egg, potato or wooden spoon as their favourite book character.

The day was filled with exciting reading activities where the children were teamed up with another year group so that there were mixed ages in each classroom.

At the end of the day, children showed off their decorated creation in an assembly and teaching staff read passages from their favourite books.

Ongar Primary School

Parents and children also arrived early to Milton Crescent, Ongar, for the school’s annual reading breakfast.

Pupil’s also took part in a The Cat in the Hat mask making, an art workshop based on 365 Penguins and designing new underwear for the Queens Knickers.

St John Fisher Catholic Primary School

Author John Holden made a special visit reading from his new book, The Mysterious Geocache, to students in Burney Drive, Loughton.

Parents and grandparents also got to read to the youngsters, including sharing books with a class of Year 7 children from Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green.

Other schools who dressed up included Epping Upland Primary in Epping, Braeside School in Buckhurst Hill, Coopersale Hall School in Epping and Oaklands School in Loughton.

For more information on World Book Day, visit www.worldbookday.com/