Library News, Book Week

Book Week and the annual Book of the Year awards have been run by the Children’s Book Council of Australia since 1946.  The event seeks to promote quality literature for young Australian readers, support Australian writers and illustrators who create texts for younger readers and celebrate the role of children’s literature.  

This year, to celebrate Book Week, we organised a range of activities and events. Students were given the opportunity to enter a short story competition, with the theme of "magic."  The winners, Emily Minns from Year 7, Mustafa Qureshi from Year 7 and Aalya Sardar from Year 8, all received vouchers from JB Hi-Fi. 

Along with a daily book-themed trivia game, we also ran a "book bingo" competition where students had to find the answers to a series of clues based on items located in the library. Keira Totoro(Year 8) Melody Sneddon (Year 7), Aalya Sardar (Year 8) and Claire Ryan (Year 11) won Dymocks vouchers for their efforts.

 We also had a costume day (on the same day as the neighbouring primary school) where staff voted on the best dressed students in years 7-9 and 10-12. Andy Al-Sayir from Year 7 and Nvrtare Barboura and Neven Kakeesaa from Year 10 (joint winners) were given $25 Dymocks vouchers for their excellent outfits!  

Honourable mentions go to Nevaeh Tara-Tuimalealiifano, Sumaya Kassab, Aylin Cosgun, Jack Mott, Gese Latu and Zak Hussain!

Finally, the Year 12 Literature class debuted their anthology of creative writing titled ‘The Hero’s Heretic’, which was a result of their Unit 4 assessment. The students were tasked with responding to Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘The World’s Wife’ by mimicking her style and message – the result was a collection of script, poetry, monologue and narrative writing which both endorsed and challenged modern day feminism. The students produced more writing than any of them thought possible, with the anthology totalling over 18000 words! 

When presenting their work to the staff, students from the class asked for feedback, revealing that “We are all incredibly proud of our work - seeing it produced like this has given us a sense of achievement we’re not really used to feeling!” and ended their presentation by sharing that “Even on the days when everything seemed to be going wrong, we could rely on the foundation of respect and community we’d built together in our Lit class and we knew it would eventually get better. That’s what we feel the most pride in. The Hero’s Heretic is tangible proof of what we can do when we surround ourselves with people who whole-heartedly believe in our potential – and proof of how important it is for teachers and students to work together towards success.” It was a proud day for the College and something the students will remember forever. 

Overall, it was a great Book Week and we look forward to more book-based fun and learning experiences next year!