Big Fun Guaranteed on Lightwater Village’s Roald Dahl Day

​​For decades, the stories of author Roald Dahl have been a staple of growing up for millions of children, and pupils at Lightwater Village School showed that tradition remains as strong as ever as they took part in celebrations for the centenary of his birth last week.

Roald Dahl Day was marked by festivities involving book lovers young and old all around the world, and Lightwater’s pupils – and staff – entered into the spirit of things with a day of Dahl-themed events and activities.

All children were invited to dress up as characters from classic books such as James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, The Twits and Matilda, and the day began with a parade around the playground of all 180 Lightwater pupils, to admire the costumers of children and adults, and for prizes to be awarded and a group photo to be taken.

Then children returned to their classrooms, where each class chose a particular Dahl book to focus on for the day, retelling the story in their own way through themed activities and exercises.

“Roald Dahl has the magic touch when it comes to capturing the hearts and minds of youngsters, so it’s been huge fun to arrange and stage all these activities as they’re so enthusiastic about taking part,” said Lightwater’s headteacher Sarah Evans.

“Every generation seems to enjoy discovering Dahl as much as the one before, his works never seem to go out of fashion, so his centenary has been a wonderful opportunity to celebrate his books and the children have had a wonderful time.”

The Dahl day was a perfect start to the autumn term for Lightwater, which together with local partner school Hammond Junior has, since November 2015, been a member of the GLF Schools group, a Surrey-based multi-academy trust running a string of schools across the south east of England.

“Dahl’s books are so wonderfully imaginative that the day wasn’t just about the stories – they gave us plenty of material for other learning activities too, like art and numeracy,” Mrs Evans added. “That’s why they’re such a gift for both children and adults. It was a hugely enjoyable day that none of us will forget in a long time – and I don’t think the children will forget Roald Dahl either!”.