From the Principal 

This week is Children’s Book Week. In addition to sending families with primary-aged children across the country into costume-induced frenzies, the week is an important and long-standing celebration of the joys and benefits of children’s literature. 

We know that reading is one of the most powerful tools we have for learning. At a functional level, the symbol-sound-meaning relationship that reading relies on is crucial to developing speech and comprehension. For many of us books were our first windows to the world, through which we learnt about places far away in time or geography. For those of us who grew up pre-internet, it was through books that we gleaned facts and information. But books are much than that – I would argue that it is through books, through stories, that we come to recognise ourselves in others; to see in characters on the page the same feelings and fears, challenges and triumphs, that affect all of us. In this way, books are great tools for building empathy. We can get our facts from the internet, but we can’t outsource human empathy and understanding to technology, just yet. 

At home I am currently switching between Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet, a fictional retelling of the story of Shakespeare’s son who died at 11, and John Marsden’s non-fiction book Take Risks, which outlines the thinking that lead to the establishing of his two schools in central Victoria, Candlebark and the Alice Miller School. Marsden argues persuasively for challenging children through education and encouraging them to take risks. I recommend both highly. Whatever you’re reading, I hope that Book Week has been a joy.

John Marsden Take Risks: 

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760985295/

Maggie O’Farrell Hamnet: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612385/hamnet-by-maggie-ofarrell/