CRUELLA DeVil, D'Artagnan, Mary Poppins and Peter Pan were just a few of the fictional characters to be seen running around the playground of a Worcestershire school.

Pupils at Broadwas CE Primary School, near Worcester, donned fancy dress costumes and dressed up as their favourite characters to celebrate National Book Week, which ended yesterday.

"This is something we do every year and the children absolutely love it," said the school's administrator Sue Bladen.

"Not only do they enjoy dressing up but they get stuck into acting out plays, which improves their speaking and listening skills, as well as their creativity and writing skills."

n Left: Andrew Salter dresses up as his favourite character D'Artagnan. 42448101