Book Week 2026
The St Mary’s community are looking forward to a fabulous celebration of all things books in Week 7, Monday 24th- Thursday 27th.
Throughout the week the students and staff will share their favourite books, investigate some of the Children’s Book Council of Australia Short Listed books in 2026 and have the opportunity to participate in Book Week related activities in the Zen Zone at break times. Keep an eye on Seesaw for a time during the week set aside for parents to come and share their favourite book with your child’s class.
The annual Book Fair will run alongside Book Week celebrations. The shop will be open for sales in the Zen Zone room before and after school Monday - Thursday. A large percentage of sales enables the school to purchase more books for our Library.
Our celebrations will conclude on Thursday 27th of August with;
9:00am - 11.00am We welcome Sarah Speedy, Author and Illustrator as she works with all of our Prep - Y6 students.
11:50am - 1.40pm Multi- age groups participating in Book Week related activities across the school
3:00pm - 3:30pm Whole school parade, hosted by the Y6 Student Leaders. All students are invited to dress up as a book character or a costume relating to the theme of ‘Symphony of Stories’. For example; Characters Who Are Musicians or Dancers ie. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Cat and the Fiddle (Hey Diddle Diddle), Angelina Ballerina (Angelina Ballerina) or Sebastian or Ariel (The Little Mermaid) or Stories Built Around Music & Sound, ie. The Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, Peter and the Wolf./
All are welcome to join us for our parade.
Library News
Another great week in the library. Big focus this term on building reading stamina so the focus is on picking a good fit chapter book- particularly in the senior grades. It makes me so happy to hear the students discovering a new author or series - be it Dragon Girls, Wings of Fire, Funny Kid or the ever popular Harry Potter. It’s great to hear them excited about reading!
A reminder that I am still on the hunt for the spare library bags - a few have been returned - however, I feel as though there are more out there!
We are all looking forward to Book Week, especially the parade. I have overheard many conversations in the library about costumes - details following.
Book club books should arrive Friday or Monday and will be dispensed as soon as possible.
Happy Reading!
Miss Kat
2026 is a Symphony of Stories!
The 2026 Children’s Book Week theme is ‘Symphony of Stories’.
Link to the official book week website for 2026
The Book Week 2026 talented illustrator is the fabulous Briony Stewart, award-winning author-illustrator of ‘Gymnastica Fantastica’ and other children’s books. Just wait until you meet all the wild characters she’s created.
‘I decided to try and show what stepping into a symphony of stories might be like. A huge colourful collection of characters bursting out of a book representing their different stories with weird and wonderful instruments.’ – Briony Stewart