Today is International Women’s Day, which celebrates the achievements of women all across the world – From women in politics, to sport and everything in between. It is also a day that promotes equality; which is when everyone is treated the same no matter who they are, where they come from, or whether they are male or female. Sadly we live in a world where people’s opportunities can be limited by their background, gender identity or the colour of their skin. This is wrong.
International Women’s Day highlights the amazing contribution women make to our world and the gap in recognition and support they receive when compared to men. For example, the pay gap between men’s average earnings and women’s in 18%!
To mark International Women’s Day we want you to think about women who inspire you and are working to make a difference. This could be the education campaigner Malala Yousafzia, author J K Rowling or some of last summer’s amazing Olympians and Paralympians like local stars Helen Richardson-Walsh, Beckie Downie or Sophie Hahn. It doesn’t have to be famous people either – women working in our schools, emergency services and other jobs are the everyday heroes that we need to reconise today as well. History is a great place to look for inspiring people too and at OppNotts we think Emily Wilding Davison, a school teacher from near Newcastle who campaigned for Vote for Women over 100 years ago, is some who should be celebrated. Go on, find someone who inspires you!
World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.
This is the 20th year there’s been a World Book Day, and today (2nd March 2017) children of all ages will come together to appreciate reading. Very loudly and very happily. The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. That’s why we will be sending schools (including those nurseries and secondary schools that have specially registered to participate), packs of Book Tokens and age-ranged World Book Day Resource Packs (age-ranged into Nursery/Pre-School, Primary and Secondary) full of ideas and activities, display material and more information about how to get involved in World Book Day.
WHAT HAPPENS?
Thanks to the generosity of National Book Tokens Ltd, publishers and booksellers, we can send millions of book vouchers to children and young people (some 15 million, in fact: that’s one for nearly every child aged under eighteen in the country).
THEN…
They can take their voucher to a local bookseller and can use it to pick one of TEN (exclusive, new and completely free) books. Or, if they’d rather, they can use it to get £1 off any book or audio book costing over £2.99 at a participating bookshop or book club (terms and conditions apply).
We really look forward to seeing all the amazing costumes you’ve worn today on your school’s Twitter and Facebook pages – we’ll retweet our favourites. Be sure to use the hashtag #WorldBookDay!
St David’s Day is celebrated every year on 1 March.
It is the day when the people of Wales (or Cymru in Welsh), and others around the world, celebrate their patron saint, St David.
On the day, many people choose to wear Welsh national symbols, like a daffodil or leek. The original national emblem of Wales was the Leek (Cenhinen), over the years this was often confused with a very similar Welsh word Cehhinen Bedr which means daffodils and so the daffodil was adopted as a second emblem of Wales.
On St David’s Day, children enjoy traditional Welsh dances, sing Welsh folk songs (not just Tom Jones) and recite Welsh poems, and take part in school concerts or eisteddfodau. They might eat Welsh food like Welsh Rarebit (a kind of fancy cheese on toast) or Cawl (a traditional Welsh lamb stew that’s hearty and delicious, especially if you crumble in some Caerphilly cheese!).
Wales loves rugby and in recent years, including at last year’s European Championships, have gotten quite good at football thanks to a certain Gareth Bale and co. Snowdon (or Yr Wyddfa), is the highest peak in Wales at 1085 m and the principality is said to contain more castles per square mile than any other country in the world. Wales is often termed “the land of song” due mainly to its famous male voice choirs.
