Children at two local rural primary schools celebrated World Book Day in style last week, and got to explore magical bedtime story-telling too.

The one-day celebration was part remote (for those children at home) and part in-school (for those children of key workers) for pupils at Shoscombe Church School and St Julian's School, Wellow.

Headteacher of both schools, Ruth Noall, said: "Thank you to everyone who helped us to celebrate World Book Day. This year may have been different to any other, with most of our children at home, but we still got to explore storytelling and the magical world of books.

" In Shoscombe we were blessed with Lizzie from The Egg Theatre running some socially distant workshops, and in Wellow children were exploring their artistic talents with bookmark designing.

" Reading regularly at home with your children is the single most important thing you can do to make a difference to a child's future success."

Children in Shoscombe were also gifted with a box of books from Oldfield Park book shop to take home and read.

World Book Day's international mission is to give every child and young person a book of their own. It's also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it's a celebration of reading. In fact, it's the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

This year was the 24th World Book Day where children of all ages came together to appreciate reading, albeit remotely. The annual event every March gives schools and nurseries a chance to encourage reading in a fun and exciting way.

"Whilst we were working together online, it was lovely to see all of the hard work that children and their parents put in. Well done everyone!", added Ruth.