World Book Day held in Boston without a wizard in sight

Headteacher Fiona Booth said the event could also put families under pressure to spend money

A primary school in Lincolnshire has held an alternative World Book Day event, with no boy wizards or cardboard robots allowed.

St Nicholas Church of England Academy in Boston said for them the focus was about books - not dressing up.

Head teacher Fiona Booth said the school did not want to "put pressure on families to go out and buy things".

World Book Day's chief executive said dressing up encouraged children to talk about the books they were reading.

Commenting on the decision not to have costumes, Ms Booth said: "For us in our community we feel it's really important to stress that the focus for World Book Day is books.

"Not costumes - not things that put pressure on families to go out and buy things," she said.

"We really want the value of books to be celebrated," she added.

The school's alternative event included other book-based activities, including a scavenger hunt where pupils sought out "amazing characters" in books.

One pupil said they were still able to have fun without the costumes, while others said they enjoyed the dressing up element of the day.

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World Book Day's Cassie Chadderton said: "We know it [dressing up] helps to encourages reluctant readers, and children say it's a special way to celebrate and share reading together."

However, she said there were lots of other ways to support children to talk about books and "create a happy reading atmosphere" on World Book Day.

"Our focus is to provide lots of opportunities for everyone to have fun and read together and ensure that as many children as possible feel excited and confident about being a reader," she added.