Rochdale AFC Community Trust hosts schoolchildren for World Book Day

Rochdale AFC Community Trust hosted children from St James’ CE Primary School for World Book Day 2023.

Partnering with Premier League Primary Stars, Rochdale AFC is one of 97 professional football clubs across England and Wales to give away to give away free books to local primary schools, with 180 World Book Day books being gifted by the club to local primary schools in Rochdale.

The children from St James’ had an action-packed day full of activities and rewards throughout.

The day started with a short introduction for the activities ahead followed by an inspirational video by first-team goalkeeper, Richard O’Donnell.

Next, was a book cover-inspired jigsaw race which tested the children’s problem-solving and teamwork skills in order to complete the task.

Then it was a book cover word find. The aim of the game was to use clues to find missing words which made a short story for the pupils to read.

A tour of the Crown Oil Arena followed, with a treasure hunt included to make the tour even more fun.

The last activity of the day was a learning activity for the pupils of St James’ CE Primary School. The children were asked to choose their own book which they would take away with them and read at home or at school.

Just when the children thought it was time to leave, a meet and greet with Desmond the Dragon, who handed out puzzle books and star-player goodie bags, left the pupils with smiles on their faces and a World Book Day to remember.

 

 

After each activity, Primary Stars certificates were handed out to the children for echoing its core values:

• Be inspiring by helping and setting good examples
• Be fair by sharing and taking turns
• Be ambitious by not giving up
• Be connected by working together

Reflecting on the day, Graham Hicks, Rochdale Primary Stars coordinator, said: “World Book Day is always an exciting time of the year for our Primary Stars team and this year was even better than ever.  We delivered a stadium workshop as well as on-the-road events within schools, all delivered free of charge due to our funding from Premier League Primary Stars.

“It was great to get on the road to deliver workshops and free books to over 200 pupils across Rochdale, plus the bonus of bringing pupils to the stadium event was a fantastic way to engage and inspire the pupils.”

The headteacher of St. James’ Primary CE Primary School sang the praises of all involved at Rochdale and gave their thanks for letting the children and staff be involved on what was a special day.

Tom Markham