World Book day and Canvey Reads Together at The Cornelius Vermuyden School

Nick Knowland
March 9, 2017

‘There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favourite book.’ So said the great French novelist Marcel Proust, and in our digital age it is all too easy to become disillusioned and feel as though promoting reading is like fighting a losing battle. Not so, here on World Book Day!

Indeed, our pupils and staff really made a buzz this year for World Book Day with lots of activities, stalls and a visiting speaker, Roy Apps, BAFTA award winner for children’s film and television, as well as an author of over 80 children’s books. Roy gave a series of talks on being a writer and workshops on creative writing skills. The author also sold signed copies of his ‘Dream to Win’ collection of books, a series about obstacles, challenges and tough decisions faced by some of the world’s most successful sportsmen and sportswomen. Our pupils queued to purchase his books, with the one on ‘Leo’ Messi being the most popular.

We also had a book themed cake sale and a sponsored Readathon in aid of Youngminds, the mental health and wellbeing charity. The Catering team and their pupils made hundreds of cakes and one based on Roy Apps’ book ‘How to Handle your Teacher,’ the latter being our raffle prize. Our Readathon pupils read quietly throughout the day, and several wanted to continue even when it was time to finish! The cakes and Readathon raised in excess of three hundred pounds.

Teachers played their part too, with a ‘Guess the Character” quiz, as well as reading extracts in class from their favourite books. We are incredibly proud of our pupils and staff who have made World Book Day a great success and promoted the importance of literacy and a love of reading.

World Book day also coincided with the Canvey-wide community project ‘Canvey Reads Together’, which had ‘Heroes’ as its theme; Roy Apps’ books complimented this message perfectly. Some of our pupils designed posters for the project and were proudly displayed around the town centre. We also took part in the first leg of the Book Exchange in the Knightswick Centre, where some of our year 10 pupils handed out books to enthusiastic members of the public. Look out for displays of pupils’ work in the coming weeks, also in the town centre.