E-ACT Royton and Crompton Academy has commemorated the special day today (March 7), which was created by UNESCO in 1995 as a worldwide celebration of books and reading.

The strategy of the charity behind World Book Day for 2023 to 2027 sets out to encourage more children, from all backgrounds, to develop a life-long habit of reading for pleasure.

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The charity promotes reading by celebrating the joy of books, authors and illustrators and is on a mission to transform attitudes and change behaviours to make reading fun.

It also ensures every child gets to choose a book of their own with the World Book Day £1 books and tokens.

Getting involved with the day, the Oldham school focused on encouraging literacy and oracy by encouraging students to discuss their favourite books.

Those with the most compelling contributions were awarded a 'golden ticket', which has put them in the running to win a Kindle.

The school also held a big book swap and ran a book-in-a-bag challenge where students had to discuss what they were currently reading.

The initiative comes as the National Literacy Trust’s Annual Literacy Survey recorded the lowest level of reading enjoyment since the trust began its survey in 2005. 

The trust found just two in five (43.4 per cent) of children and young people aged eight to 18 said they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2023 - the lowest level since they first asked the question in 2005. 

The survey also concluded that fewer than three in 10 (28 per cent) of children and young people in the same age bracket said that they read daily in 2023.  

Andrea Atkinson, Headteacher at E-ACT Royton and Crompton Academy said: "It was great to see so many activities going on across the school for World Book Day. 

"Encouraging a love of reading is so important and I am so proud of the fact that not only do we run staff and student book clubs, we also have one for parents."

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