Pyjamarama: 'Our students can be shocked to hear that not every child gets a bedtime story'

Sue Vickers, Assistant Headteacher for Standards and Year 2 teacher at Lancot School, Dunstable, has been in her role for more than ten years – and is used to coming to school in her pyjamas.

"The children love Pyjamarama," she says. "It's a chance to enjoy reading and really promote that across the school."

Today, each classroom is buzzing with story-related activity. Instead of their school uniform, students are in the comfort of their pyjamas, engrossed in completing book-themed wordsearches, designing book covers, or creating their own comic strips and bookmarks.

Key Stage 2 students are also taking part in scavenger hunts – scouring through books to hunt down "a description of food" or "a word you don't know the meaning of" or "a really great sentence" (the first to find and log everything on the list, wins).

Why does the school take part in BookTrust's Pyjamarama each year? "Pyjamarama is about reading for pleasure, putting your pyjamas on and having fun," Sue says. "There's no expectation of anything other than enjoying a really good book.

"Everything is provided by BookTrust and it's so easy to organise. The resources are easy to download, and they're accessible for all ages across the school."

Jenny Fraser, deputy headteacher at the Lancot School, describes how participating in Pyjamarama – and inviting students to bring in £1 for BookTrust - is a great way to inspire empathy in students.

"Our children are so excited to come to school wearing their pyjamas, but Pyjamarama is so much more than that," she says. "Some of our children will go home and they'll have a bedtime story, or they'll have books at home. Children can be quite shocked when they hear that not all children have that."

Getting children excited about books

Having Pyjamarama in its annual calendar supports Lancot School with its reading for pleasure objectives, by dedicating a full day to immersing every student in story-related fun and encouraging them to talk to each other about books they enjoy.

"As a school, we want every child to be a successful reader," says Sue. "We know the way to do that is enjoying reading for pleasure.

"My hope is that, after Pyjamarama day, they'll really enjoy the books they've shared and they'll think about going to pick another book to read and continue that journey at home."

Jenny adds: "I hope that through Pyjamarama day, children are exposed to a brilliant book that maybe they didn't know existed.

"Maybe they've sat down with somebody else who's got a different favourite book to them, or a different favourite author, and that's inspired them to think: 'I want to read another one.'"

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