Colourful clothes at Knowsley for special events

THERE was an array of colourful and creative clothes on parade at Knowsley Junior School as pupils swapped out of their uniforms for not one but two special events.

A ‘Dress to Express’ day during Children’s Mental Health Week saw pupils come to the Springhead school wearing whatever they felt most comfortable in.

Pupils Luay Jackson as Mr Gum, Grayson Shaw as Tom Gates, Olivia Kew as the White Witch from Narnia, Ayaan Alam as Horrid Henry, Adam Thornton as the Sheriff, Chloe Payne as the Tiger Who Came To Tea, Noah Taylor as Legolas, Ruby Whiteside as Gangsta Granny, Abeer Fatimah as The Silver Eyes, Lilly Kempster as Hermione from Harry Potter and Joshua Butler as the police office from the Magic Faraway Tree with assistant headteacher Ellen Aldred as the Grand High Witch, Joan Tones as the BFG and Paul Shea as the Tiger Who Came To Tea

Mr Bunn, SMSC and PSHE lead teacher who organised the event, said: “As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, the children have taken part in several exciting activities and lessons based on this year’s theme ‘Growing Together’.

“They have learnt about how they socially and emotionally develop and strategies they can use to become more resilient.”

Children and staff made donations and raised £214.50 for Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity that provides counselling and mental health support and training in UK schools.

Dress to Express: Back L-R: Miss Payne (Headteacher), Mrs Hewitt (SENDco);
Front L-R: Bobby Talbot, Summer Hatton, Athena Moradyn, and Katalina Alowa

And there was another opportunity for both pupils and staff to dress up for World Book Day, which celebrates authors, illustrators, books and reading.

Some pupils even made their own costumes by hand, including Grayson Shaw, who carefully took more than an hour to draw and colour his own Tom Gates t-shirt using pens and sharpies.

And Luay Jackson had an eye-catching Mr Gum outfit that his aunt sewed together by using her slippers and leftover clothes – even including a bright orange beard!

There were other activities in school to celebrate the day, including designing
book-related bunting to decorate the library, a special assembly, book donation and
story time.