Callywith College celebrates World Book Day

Callywith College Drama students visited a local Bodmin school to deliver a story sharing workshop ahead of World Book Day.

The Year 1 and 2 students at Berrycoombe Primary School had a wonderful time learning the story of Gerald the giraffe from the children’s book, ‘Giraffe’s can’t dance’.

Callywith College Drama Lecturer Clare Underwood praised the Drama students, saying:

“I was really impressed with the students’ leadership skills. They delivered a fantastic workshop that engaged the Year 1 and 2 students and explored the key themes of the book. The primary students had a lot of fun learning about Gerald”.    

Starting with a fun dance activity, the children warmed up to traditional African music to set the scene of the Saharan where the story of Gerald the giraffe takes place.

Splitting into five groups, the Drama students led the primary children in exploring and rehearsing a section of the story. The students came together for a fantastic finale, performing their piece of the book to the rest of the class through dance, spoken word and freeze frames.

The young students really showed off their team work and listening skills – being good audience members as they watched their classmates perform. The session ended with a round of theatre questions about the story, its characters and the themes of bullying.

Berrycoombe Primary School teacher Mr Walton thanked everyone involved, saying:

“Thank you for such an amazing workshop, all the students and staff were really impressed! The children are still talking about it this morning – linking it to World Book Day.”

Callywith College joined in the excitement of World Book Day with staff and students dressing up as their favourite literary characters. The classrooms and corridors were filled with characters, from the cast of Alice in Wonderland to children’s classic Winnie the Pooh and fairy-tale characters Red Riding Hood. The English department won best dressed group, with the three Lecturers going as ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ – complete with homemade wardrobe! 

Students had lots of opportunities to celebrate the day, from the fancy dress competition to reading to Macy the Therapy dog as part of the Read2Dogs scheme. In the canteen students loved taking part in the ‘Guess Who?’ game, seeing if they could spot which member of staff was hiding behind our 2019 Prospectus.

Students take part in the Guess Who? activity

A Level student Zoe Saha, who read to Macy that day, said:

“Everyone is buzzing at College talking about World Book Day. The staff have gone all out!”

Lecturer Clare Underwood who led on the day’s activities said:

“Thank you to all staff and students for making the day such a huge success! We have set the bar high for next year, some staff are already planning their next costumes”.