FOR SCHOOLS · KS1 AND KS2 · 2027
Book Day 2027 ideas for schools: a day’s plan for KS1 and KS2
Book Day 2027 is Thursday 4 March, according to the charity that runs it. Here is a plan for the whole school day in which every child finishes as an author: a 15-minute assembly, a timetable for KS1 and KS2 that uses our free story lesson, story starters and story dice, and a printable “I made up my own story” certificate.
- Date
- Thursday 4 March 2027. The plan works just as well on whichever day your school marks it.
- The big idea
- Every child makes up a story of their own, tells or writes it, and shares it before home time.
- Who
- KS1 and KS2 (Years 1 to 6), starting with everyone together in the hall
- You need
- The book corner, paper, a whiteboard, and the certificates printed the day before. Nothing depends on what children wear.
Assembly · Timetable · Free resources · Certificate · For families
Book Day 2027: what schools need to know
Book Day is a yearly celebration of reading run by a charity that calls itself “the reading for fun charity”. In 2027 it falls on Thursday 4 March, according to the charity’s website. If that date clashes with a trip or a training day, nothing below is tied to it.
The charity says it doesn’t suggest a theme: it hopes schools and families will encourage children to read for pleasure. Its page for educators says its resources for 2027 launch in December, so look there before you finalise the day.
This plan adds one thread to all the reading: children making up stories of their own. A child who has invented a character, chosen what goes wrong and decided how it ends goes back to the book corner as a fellow author, curious about how other writers did it. The day builds towards that moment, with a certificate to take home.
A 15-minute assembly: every book was once an idea
A 15-minute start-of-day assembly for the whole school. It needs three books from the school library, a screen for the story dice, and one adult to lead it.
| Time | Step | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 0–2 min | Three books, three ideas | Hold up three very different books, such as a picture book, a joke book and a long chapter book. Tell the hall that each one began as a small idea in one person’s head, long before it had a cover or any pages. |
| 2–5 min | Where ideas come from | Share one tiny thing that could start a story: a single glove on a bench, a door left open, a parcel with no name on it. Ask who the glove belongs to and take three answers. Point out that three answers means three different stories. |
| 5–12 min | The hall’s story in three rolls | Roll the story dice on the screen for a character, a place and a problem. Children whisper to the person beside them what could happen next. Take a few ideas, let the hall choose between two with thumbs up, then tell the opening of the hall’s story in two or three sentences. |
| 12–15 min | Today’s job | Explain that by home time every child will have made up a story, told or written it, and shared it with someone. Show the certificate each author will take home, and send classes off with the hall’s story still unfinished for them to end. |
The day’s timetable for KS1 and KS2
Morning, session 1 · about an hour
A story lesson about books
KS1 (Years 1 and 2)
Teach the KS1 lesson from our Book Day story unit, in which book characters wake up inside the wrong books and the class works out where each one belongs. Finish by asking every child which book in the classroom they would most like to climb inside, and what they would do there.
KS2 (Years 3 to 6)
Teach the KS2 lesson from the same unit, in which the endings have vanished from a library and pupils write one back. At the end, ask each pupil to choose a favourite book to recommend to a younger child in the last session, and to note one reason why.
Use: Book Day story unit
Late morning, session 2 · about 45 minutes
Find a story idea
KS1 (Years 1 and 2)
Roll the five KS1 story dice on the board, or give each table a set made from the printable nets. In pairs, children roll, then tell each other a story that uses every picture. Each child picks their favourite idea and draws it in three boxes: the beginning, the problem and the end.
KS2 (Years 3 to 6)
Each pupil picks an opening from the story starters for their year group, or rolls the dice for a character, a place and a problem. They plan on a story mountain with one line for each part. Partners swap plans and ask one question the finished story must answer.
Use: Story dice · KS1 story starters · KS2 story starters · Story mountain template
After lunch, session 3 · about an hour
Make the book
KS1 (Years 1 and 2)
Fold two sheets of A4 in half and staple along the fold to make an eight-page booklet. The front is the cover, with a title and “by” and the child’s name. Each inside page gets one picture and one sentence, taken from the three boxes they drew this morning. Adults scribe for children who are not yet writing on their own.
KS2 (Years 3 to 6)
Pupils write their story from the plan, then make it look like a real book: a cover with the title and their name as the author, a dedication inside, and a blurb on the back that makes a reader curious without giving the ending away. A finished story of one or two pages beats an unfinished long one.
End of the day, session 4 · about 30 minutes
Authors share their stories
KS1 (Years 1 and 2)
In a circle, children read or tell their booklet to a partner, then a few volunteers share theirs with the whole class. Hand each child their certificate and say the title of their story out loud as you do.
KS2 (Years 3 to 6)
Pair each KS2 class with a KS1 class. Pupils read their story to a younger buddy, listen to the buddy’s booklet and tell them one thing they liked, then recommend the book they chose this morning. Each pupil goes home with a certificate.
Use: The certificate
Only have the afternoon? Run the assembly as a 10-minute class opener, give session 2 half an hour, write or draw the story in one page instead of a booklet, and finish with the certificates.
How the free resources fit into the day
- Book Day story unit
Session 1. Two story briefs, one for each key stage, with talk questions, a writing task, word meanings and an A4 lesson sheet.
- Story dice
The assembly and session 2. Roll on the board for the hall’s story, or print the dice nets and play in pairs at tables.
- Story starters
Session 2. First lines for Years 1 to 6, with a generator to put on the board when a pupil is stuck for an idea.
- Story mountain template
Session 2 in KS2. Plan the story in five parts, online or on paper, and print it on A4.
- “I made up my own story” certificate
Session 4. One certificate for every author, printed with a first name or blank to write on.
- Make your own story
For early finishers: a free mini adventure where the child picks the hero and decides what happens, read aloud.
- National Storytelling Week 2027
Four weeks earlier: an assembly and a week of telling stories aloud, good practice for Book Day’s authors.
Print the “I made up my own story” certificate
One A4 landscape certificate for every child who makes up a story. Its wording never mentions a date or an event, so it works on Book Day, in National Storytelling Week, or on any day a story gets finished.
Type a child’s first name to print a certificate with the name on it, or print it blank and write the names by hand. For a class set, print the blank one and choose the number of copies in your browser’s print window.
The name stays on this page. It is not saved or sent and is not added to the address, and it is gone when you close or refresh the page. A first name is all the certificate needs.
A certificate for a story author
I made up my own story
Awarded to
for thinking up a story and making it their own.
Every story starts with an idea, and this one started with you.
My story is called:
Signed:
Date:
For families
Sending a note home? Our Book Day guide for parents explains the £1 book token, costumes that start from a book and cost next to nothing, and reading together before and after the day. It is written for families, so it is the page to link in a newsletter.
Curriculum links
Statutory statements from the National Curriculum in England that the day’s sessions cover, quoted word for word.
KS1: saying, writing and reading aloud a story
“saying out loud what they are going to write about”
Year 1, Writing – composition (statutory)
“read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher”
Year 1, Writing – composition (statutory)
“writing narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional)”
Year 2, Writing – composition (statutory)
KS2: writing, improving and reading aloud
“assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements”
Years 3 and 4, Writing – composition (statutory)
“read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear”
Years 3 and 4, Writing – composition (statutory)
“in writing narratives, considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed”
Years 5 and 6, Writing – composition (statutory)
Sources
The date and what the charity says about themes and resources were checked on its own pages on 5 November 2026.
About this page
Put together by Litsee for primary schools. The date of Book Day 2027, and what the charity says about themes and its 2027 resources, come from its own website, the best place to check for the latest details. The assembly, the timetable and the certificate are ready-to-use ideas written for this page. The National Curriculum statements are quoted word for word from the Department for Education’s English programmes of study. Ideas or corrections? Email info@litsee.com.
Last updated: .
After Book Day: more stories where children decide
In Litsee, a child creates the hero, picks the world and chooses what happens next in an illustrated story that is read aloud. In class, the whole class reads a story on the board and votes on what happens next.
The free trial is for families (card needed). See Litsee for schools