Writes Maria Smith, Librarian
We started the Spring Term with a visit from Chris Smith, author of Kid Normal. His new fiction follows on with Enid Blyton’s famous five, which has flown off the library shelves. His first two famous five books are fantastic with the original Five’s grandchildren making their debut. Boys from Year 3-6 enjoyed hearing an excerpt from another of his books called the Twits Next Door that was just as funny as the original Twits by Roald Dhal. We also had a visit from authors Sue Hendra (Supertato) and Smriti Halls with their new book Bedtime for Digger at the Manor. After hearing the story, the boys got hands on making their own bunnies as a souvenir of a fantastic story time.
Onjali Q Rauf managed to amaze our boys from Year 1 and Year 2 with her picture book- The Girl from the Front of the Class, a heartwarming story that show how empathy and kindness can change a life. Onjali then spoke to the rest of the School about refugees and the struggles they can face entering a new environment as this was a theme tied into her award-winning book ‘The Boy from the Back of the Class’ that is now a stage show.
For storytelling week, we had the opportunity to meet storyteller Ben Haggarty as he visited the Senior school. Both our Year 8 and the Senior school Year 8 were told tales of ancient Gods, stories of greed and hubris. Students were captivated by his delivery, humour, and thought-provoking parables. Finally, to start off our Book Week we had storyteller Liz Frost reading a wonderful story The Turtles who Turned the Tide, by Rachel Bright. This was read to all our Pre-Prep in the theatre. A wonderful story of family, kindness as well as collaboration that teaches how important it is to be kind and help each other.
World Book Day was a day of colour, creativity, and costumes. The array of characters was phenomenal! We started the day with an assembly that followed with the Prep School participation in a live Footy and Booky quiz organised by the premier league and the Book trust. We introduced the National Year of Reading and, judging from the student’s enthusiasm and participation, it looks to be a fantastic year of delving into imaginary world, meeting exciting characters and vanquishing terrifying foes!
