School playground is taken over by a host of book characters

A PLAYGROUND was taken over by princesses, super heroes and the occasional Gruffalo as a Blyth academy celebrated World Book Day.

Children and staff at the Primary Years Bede Academy transformed into their favourite fictional characters for a day of bookish activities.

The youngest children in the academy's nursery saw their teachers take on the roles of the Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit in an Alice in Wonderland theme.

Nursery manager Joanne Baird said: "The children made jam tarts, talked about their favourite books and characters and took part in lots of literacy-based activities."

Some children went on a Bear Hunt while others got to swap a book brought from home with a classmate.

Headteacher Irene Watson said: "It's been a wonderful day for the children and they thoroughly enjoyed coming to school as their favourite characters from much-loved books.

"All the staff went to great effort to come up with a huge array of different activities to inspire the children, bring their books to life and encourage them to read. It's definitely been a day the children will remember for a long time."