WORLD Book Day was marked in Minehead Middle School with a variety of events which saw pupils go to school dressed as their favourite book characters.

Costumes included ‘Diary of the Wimpy Kid’, ‘Petey the Cat’, and ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.

Staff also rose to the dress-up challenge, turning up for lessons as ‘Mary Poppins’, ‘Aladdin’, and ‘The Grumpy Unicorn’, and a group of ‘Where’s Wallys’ looked after years five and six for the day.

The first ever ‘DEAR day’, which stands for ‘Drop Everything And Read’, took place alongside quizzes and online lessons, with each student starting each session hearing a different poem, including ‘I don’t like Poetry’, by Joshua Seigal, who visited the school online last term, and ‘Hamster, Hamster’, by former children’s laureate Joseph Coelho.

It meant that during the day all students and staff heard seven different poems, from seven different poets.

Storyteller Steve Manning visited to share his stories, including one about Anansi the spider, with years five and six and some year seven students.

The reading theme continued the following day when two teams took part for the first time in the Westcountry heat of the online National Reading Champions Quiz.

Both teams from Minehead did themselves proud by finishing equal tenth and twelfth against 23 others.

Head of English Alice Cooper said: “I cannot express eloquently enough just how fantastic the day was.

“Full of bright, beaming children, all immensely proud to be dressed as their favourite character.

“Conversations about books and reading this year were engaging and enlightening and the opportunity for some to sit with an actual storyteller was held in great esteem.

“I would love to pass on my heartfelt thanks to staff and pupils alike for their willingness to engage with the day and bring the school to life as if it were, indeed, a book.”