Educational Achievement 

Reading

What Kids are Reading in 2025

Each year, the What Kids are Reading report provides valuable insight in what Australian students are reading and how their habits are changing. The 2025 data gives us a great snapshot of what is happening in classrooms across the country and what that means for our readers at Gundy. 

Early readers- Prep to year 2

In the early years of school, Australian students continue to show strong engagement with books by local authors. Familiar favourites like Anh Do’s WeirDo and Aaron Blabey’s The Bad Guys remain top picks — full of humour, relatable characters, and strong visual appeal. 

Students are choosing books that challenge and engage them, but data shows that understanding still needs some support which is why shared reading, discussion, and re-reading favourite stories remain so important. Picture books and early chapter books help bridge the gap between “learning to read” and “reading to understand.” Reading aloud together, talking about the pictures, and asking “why” questions all build the skills needed for deeper comprehension.

Middle readers- Year 3-6

By Years 3–6, students are becoming more independent readers and the report shows strong appetites for humour, adventure, and fantasy, with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory among the most-read books.

This is an exciting stage in reading development — students move from learning to read to reading to learn. Supporting comprehension at this stage (through discussion, vocabulary building, and thinking routines) helps children make sense of richer language and deeper themes.

One of the standout finding of the 2025 report is the power of book series in engaging readers. Series like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, and The Bad Guys help children stay connected to characters and worlds they love.

Series reading has many benefits:

• Builds reading habits: Children who connect with a series are more likely to read daily.
• Increases volume: Each new book adds to their total reading time and vocabulary exposure.
• Grows stamina: Longer story arcs and familiar plots help students handle more complex books.

Series also create a shared reading culture — classmates talk about favourite characters, swap books, and encourage each other to read the next one. This peer-to-peer enthusiasm can be a huge motivator in the classroom.

The 2025 data confirms what we see every day at Goondiwindi State School: students who read for 15 minutes or more each day make greater progress in comprehension and achievement. In fact, students who began the year below the benchmark were 10% more likely to reach it when they developed a consistent daily reading habit.

At school, we build reading time into the day — and we encourage families to do the same at home. Whether it’s before bed, after dinner, or on the weekend, those small, regular moments really do add up.

Music

Instrumental Music

Instrumental and Choir students will be performing at the end of year Music Showcase Night. This event showcases the students hard work throughout the school year. See the below poster for further details.

Classroom Music

Term 4 looks like being a busy one in the music department. Classes will continue to develop their performing and composing skills during lessons.  Middle and Upper year level lessons will soon incorporate some learning using ukeleles. These compact instruments are great for all sorts of reasons including developing coordination skills, strengthening memory and improving concentration.  

Both choirs will be preparing new pieces for the Music Showcase on November 27th.

Our end of Term 3 visit to Kaloma was a great success with many compliments received from the audience regarding the performances. The students enjoyed revisiting their Eisteddfod songs and entertaining the residents and staff.

News from the Library

Premier's Reading Challenge

We are very proud of the 292 students who completed the Challenge between May 6th and August 22, 2025. 

These students will receive a Certificate from the Premier for their efforts. 

We will present these on Assembly in Week 5.

Overdue Books

We have a number of students who still have overdue books. Students have been sent home with a red letter this term as a reminder to locate their books and return to the library. Please contact your Class Teacher or Mrs Ford in the library if there are any concerns.