Children at Hunter Hall School celebrated a Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter themed Book Week in October. It is an annual focus for the primary school in Penrith on the enjoyment of reading, with the aim of encouraging as many children as possible to ‘get into books’.
Events began in the week leading up to Book Week itself when Upper School classes travelled to Dove Cottage in Grasmere for a Wordsworth-focused day of poetry workshops, a visit to the museum and a nature walk. During Book Week itself, their education team spent a morning in school, working with Lower School groups on ‘A Rucksack of Rhymes’ and ‘Famous Cumbrians’ and with Upper School classes looking at Dorothy Wordsworth’s diary which provided inspiration for ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’. Throughout the week English lessons for Lower School focused upon the stories of Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth’s poetry whilst Upper School classes worked on their own responses to the poem Lucy Gray, writing poetry and news reports.
During Book Week, parents were invited into school to read to classes at various times during the day; and classes paired up to share their own reading books. The school also held a successful Usborne Book Fair, which added further to the funds for the school library.
The week traditionally finishes on the Friday with a dressing-up day and children were invited to dress in costumes based on Beatrix Potter or any poem by Wordsworth. Suggestions made were: Beatrix Potter characters, Butterflies and Bugs, Plants and Flowers, The Weather, The Three Bears, Mother Nature, Autumn and Winter although they were hopeful that the entire school might choose collectively to appear as ‘a host, of golden daffodils’! The day was a great deal of fun for both children and staff, and prizes were awarded for the most creative costume designs to Lucy Wood, Orla Meek, Carson Lam, Raphael Barbosa, Matilda Harling, Zach Pallister and Paisley Cater.
Indeed the host of daffodils also made an appearance, in the form of staff costumes!