School’s brilliant new idea for World Book Day that is huge success

A Welsh primary school has this year come up with a new idea for World Book Day that has been acclaimed by parents and pupils alike.

Ysgol Gymraeg Sant Baruc in Barry decided that rather than asking pupils to dress up as a character from a book, they would instead host a book swap where every child could bring in a book that they would like to swap.

Recognising the pressure World Book Day puts on families to have to come up with an outfit, many at great expense in a cost of living crisis where money is tight, Ysgol Sant Baruc Deputy Head, Rob Kenyon came up with the idea of putting in place something that is cost effective and is a way for children to share their love of literature with their schoolmates.

As you can see from the picture the pupils threw themselves into the idea and were thrilled to swap books with each other.

Our lovely school had a lovely idea:

Rather than ask the pupils to dress up for #WorldBookDay, it was decided to conduct a book swap shop.

To say it was a success would be to undersell it *massively*.

Absolutely extraordinary scenes… https://t.co/pzlpfb8LYg

— Owen O’Williams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@OwsWills) March 2, 2023

Owen Williams who has a child at the school said: “Putting a costume together for our children is a tall task for busy parents – and so for World Book Day 2023, Ysgol Sant Baruc Deputy Head, Rob Kenyon decided to do something a bit different – and vastly more appealing to small people: a book swap shop.

“Each child could bring up to 10 books to swap and as you can imagine, there were hundreds upon hundreds of titles to choose from.

“Our eldest was thrilled that she was able to choose an array of pre-loved books from her friends and peers – all entirely free.

“I’d love to see this fantastic idea rolled out to all schools – what a wonderful way to reinforce that early love of literature.”

The reaction of parents on social media was equally as enthusiastic.

Claire Rodwell wrote: “Amazing idea! A brilliant way to refresh my son’s book collection without spending any money and as it was such a fun event he’s even more excited to read his new books. Da Iawn pawb!”

Chris Evans posted: “Great idea. World book day has become a commercial event with supermarkets pushing sales of costumes and adding extra pressure on parents.”

Meanwhile Sarah Stephenson, who is a teacher, added: “Brilliant. I’m an English teacher and I hate the dressing up. Does zero to promote reading or discussion of books apart from financial and environmental considerations. This on the other hand.”

Jane Crowley summed up parents’ feelings when she wrote: “That is a brilliant idea. No cost for hard pressed parents and an opportunity to acquire more books at no cost. How thoughtful.”