A BARRHEAD school celebrated World Book Day in style.

Pupils at St John’s Primary were given the opportunity to dress up as characters from their favourite books and took part in a variety of fun-filled activities.

Harry Potter, Dennis the Menace, Spider-man, The Mad Hatter, Willy Wonka, The Cat in the Hat and Mary Poppins were just a few of the characters spotted at the school as children embraced the joy of reading.

Principal teacher Claudia Kearney said the youngsters had a great time as they checked out each other’s costumes and listened to her reading extracts from popular children’s book Coraline, which was also made into a movie.

She also stressed the importance of encouraging kids to read.

“I think that, year on year, there are fewer children reading,” she told the Barrhead News.

“With parents working a lot more, fewer of them are reading books to their children.

“Our assembly for World Book Day this year gave us the chance to read stories to the pupils. I read a chapter from Coraline and the children gave me their full attention.

“It was clear that they loved listening – it was great.

“This year, we focused on musicals from popular books – from this, we read and sang the songs.

“The pupils really enjoyed it.”

For more information, visit www.worldbookday.com.

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