SCHOOLS across Wiltshire welcomed Harry Potters, super heroes and other famous characters from the pages of well-loved novels to celebrate World Book Day.

The popular annual event saw staff and children at a number of schools in the area get into character and do book-themed events throughout the day.

“We had a real variety of characters and wide range,” said assistant headteacher at Redlands Primary School in Chippenham, Veronika Joy.

“The day was for the children to celebrate the characters, lots of them wrote about their character and we had an assembly where the children could show off their costumes and each class had a winning costume.

“The event seems to get more publicity over the years and each year it seems to be bigger.”

Chippenham’s Hardenhuish School also took part, with staff at the science department dressing up as Peter Pan characters and were joined by their colleagues.

At Heddington Primary School in Calne, princesses and action men roamed around with the cast of Robin Hood as the children and staff embraced the day on Thursday (March 2).

Headteacher Ashley Martin said: “The children absolutely loved it and we had Devizes Books in at the end of the day for the book fair so they could spend their vouchers while they are still enthused about books.

“The parents outdid themselves this year with the costumes and I always love seeing it when they are homemade.

“The staff always dress up and this year we decided to do Robin Hood characters. The children love coming in and finding out what we have dressed up as each year.”