World Book Day 2026 went off with a bang as the Prep celebrated the world of ‘Fantasy, Myth and Legend.’ The sight of children coming into school in such incredible costumes was only made even more extraordinary when sat as a congregation for Thursday morning chapel service.
We began the day with our annual fashion parade, opened by the Year 1s and 2s strutting their stuff down the catwalk, applauded by Year 8. The costumes this year, it has to be said, were quite remarkable, and a huge thank you to all parents who clearly spent a huge amount of time and energy on their creations.
From there the classes split into our special timetable: a panoply of over twenty activities and workshops, from creature creations to Quidditch, treasure hunts to treat making. The science department offered a fantastic Illusion Lab experience, while others tried their hands at ancient map making, painting dragons’ eyes, reading runes and learning to write their names in Tolkien’s Elvish. We were also privileged to welcome author Gill Thompson today, who gave Years 7 and 8 students an inspirational talk on conflict writing.
On top of that were the annual Cranleigh Prep Spelling Bee Finals, with the Junior competition in the morning and the Senior competition after lunch. Phoenix U and Evie J took home the respective trophies this year, displaying fabulous confidence and ability. The day finished with the revelation that the whole school had risen to the challenge set just before half term of raising our Accelerated Reader Word Count to 100 million words read as a school by World Book Day. The target was reached by breaktime today and the cheer that greeted the news was an apt way to conclude proceedings.
See below the full gallery of images from the day.
