It was all aboard the Hogwarts Express straight to a primary school in St Albans for this World Book Day and some Riddikulus magical Harry Potter lessons.

Owl the children at Bernards Heath Junior School, from age seven, to nine and three quarters and up to 11, got given black cloaks, huffed and puffed trying to catch the golden snitch in quidditch, and mixed delicious drinks in potions class.

Nothing was Ron with the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans at lunch, the witches and wizards learnt to read the stars in astrology, and can now cast spells with their own hand-made wands.

Creative juices were flowing when the children wrote their own opening for the books, and got Sirius in enchanted maths.

Cards were drawn from the sorting hat to determine which house the students are in - the best personality traits Accio-ciated with each house were highlighted to the students so no-one was petrified.

Even the staff slithered-in on the fun, with headteacher Sian Kilpatrick as Professor Albus Dumbledore, tall male teachers as Hagrid and Severus Snape, and a Moaning Myrtle.

Organiser of the event Trish Hall, who was dressed as Professor McGonagall, said: “We have been so excited, it’s great fun.

“We are trying to be inclusive, rather than parents having to buy costumes and we have an author of the half term, which was JK Rowling, and we are trying to promote books constantly and encourage children to read.”

Teachers stayed at work until about 7pm yesterday (March 1) decorating the school ready for the big day.

This is the fourth year there has been a whole school theme for World Book Day - previous years have included Where’s Wally and superheroes.