Drapers' Festival of Reading 2025

Back for its fourth year, the Drapers’ Festival of Reading is an annual event held across all schools within the Drapers’ Multi-Academy Trust.

Encompassing World Book Day, the festival celebrates our shared love of reading and inspires pupils to deepen their engagement with books through a variety of activities and competitions taking place across the Trust.

During this year’s two-week festival, our pupils collectively read an impressive 2,597 books!

Across all Trust schools, pupils took part in a reading competition known as the ‘Book Race’, where they read daily and logged pages, chapters, and books. Prizes—including vouchers and book bundles—were awarded to those who read the most during the festival. From Nursery to Sixth Form, pupils were celebrated—whether they were newly discovering a love for reading or already avid, prolific readers.

The Trust’s primary schools—Drapers’ Brookside, Drapers’ Maylands, and Drapers’ Pyrgo—hosted a variety of events throughout the festival. Pupils were challenged to take part in ‘Reading Beyond the Classroom’, encouraging them to read in outdoor spaces and around their school environments, such as the library. Schools also welcomed author visits (both virtual and in person) and organised shared reading sessions, where pupils had the chance to read with children from other year groups.

Prizes were awarded not only to the most enthusiastic and improved readers but also to those with the most creative costumes and, of course, those who read the most books. Congratulations to all pupils who took part—we can’t wait to celebrate the Festival of Reading again next year!

Drapers’ Academy held a wide range of events for pupils across the school. One highlight was the popular ‘Book Grab’, where pupils could take home free books generously donated by staff and the school library as they left for the day.

On World Book Day, staff joined the fun by dressing up as characters from their favourite novels, adding a sense of excitement across the school.

The school was thrilled to welcome children’s author Nicholas Kasparis, who led an inspiring workshop with a selected group of pupils in the Oak Centre. During the session, students explored reading, writing, and creative activities guided by the author himself.

To encourage reading at home, all pupils in Years 7, 8, and 9 received book vouchers, helping them purchase books of their choice at a discounted price.

The week ended on a fun and interactive note with a ‘Whose Bookcase?’ competition. Staff submitted photos of their personal bookcases, and pupils were challenged to match each bookcase to its owner—some were easy to spot, while others proved quite tricky!

Results

That is an amazing total of 2597 books read across the Drapers’ Trust during a two-week period!