A secret acceptance letter, potions and wands transported Islington Public School into a childhood story for Book Week.
Children walked through the gates on Thursday August 8 morning to find their school turned into Hogwarts from Harry Potter.
They passed through the fictional Platform Nine and Three Quarters before arriving at the Great Hall, and 'shopping' for wands and quills at a recreated Diagon Alley.
Antonia Fitzgerald (AJ), 10, was dressed as a regular Hogwarts student one minute and Fawkes the Phoenix (an animal companion of Harry Potter character, Dumbledore) the next.
Twirling to reveal her bright red outfit, AJ said she loved Harry Potter because it was "magical".
"The books and the movie are both awesome," she said.
She said the day's activities were amazing and were a lot of fun.
"Ms Hamilton [the principal] and some of the teachers did all this just so we can have a good connection with books," she said.
"They went out of their way to create this whole magical adventure," she said.
As an avid reader, AJ said she loved books because you could get sucked into a really good story.
"You can read a couple pages, and then it gets really interesting," she said.
'Wonderment and excitement'
While the official Children's Book Council of Australia Book Week is on August 17, schools are allowed to choose the dates that work best for them.
Relieving principal Megan Hamilton said they embraced this year's Reading is Magic theme with a book fair, parade and a visit from magician The Pretty Amazing Jono during the Harry Potter-themed day.
"This week is Public Education Week and this was about coming together as a community, and celebrating being proud to belong," Ms Hamilton said.
"It has just incited talk about a topic, and wonderment and excitement," she said.
Ms Hamilton said she hoped the day would build on a love of learning to read and engagement with books for the children.
"Tomorrow they are all going to have the same shared experience to be able to write about, to be able to talk about and connect with their friends," she said.
"So not only academic learning but that social, emotional well-being as well," she said.
Dressed as his favourite character - Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter - 11-year-old Bjarni Johnston said his highlight was the homemade food at lunchtime.
"I thought it was really fun, it was the first time this has happened," he said.
Not everyone was dressed in Harry Potter outfits, with some choosing to come as their all-time favourite book character.
Spencer Blunsden, 10, was dressed as the big, friendly and gigantic title character from Roald Dahl's The BFG.
"I thought it [today] was amazing, very wonderful. My favourite part was probably lunch, where we had to sit in our Hogwarts houses," he said.
