Book Week Celebrations

Promote reading, literacy, and the job of books – that is the aim of Book Week. Books are a powerful device that allows the user to transported to a different place, another world, even forward and back in time. All without needing to be recharged. Amazing really. Although there is no exact date known for the publishment of the first book, it is believed to be somewhere between 618 and 907 CE during the Tang Dynasty of China. Since then, my how have they changed the world for their users.

A few years back now, prior to a certain pandemic changing the world, I was extremely fortunate enough to visit England to attend a good friend’s wedding. While in the country I reached out to some other friends in and around Oxford. One of my mates was working at the Bodleian Library at the time and his role was the head of security. He offered a personal tour of the library, and I am so glad that I took him up on the offer as it afforded me access to areas not normally for public access. If you haven’t heard of the Bodleian Library, its well worth checking out as it will not disappoint. 

First opened in 1602, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe and the second largest in England. It holds over 13 million printed items!

Even if you have never heard of the Bodleian, many of you may have seen parts of it as rooms within its walls have features in many movies, such as the Harry Potter series. It is hard not to gain inspiration once standing inside the reading halls. Some of the great literary minds, including Oscar Wilde, C.S Lewis, J.R.R Tolkien have browsed along its shelves and devoted hours to reading in the nooks of the reading rooms. Similarly, 40 Nobel Prize winners, 26 Prime Ministers and about half a dozen kings have all studied at the Bodleian. Books certainly can make a difference.     

Now, back to our Book Week celebrations. I was so pleased to see such a wonderful turn out on Wednesday for the Book Week Dress Up. From Llamas in Pyjamas to the Man from Snowy River, it was great to see students having fun with books being the theme. Well done to everyone who dressed up on the day. I hope we can make it bigger and better next year with more of the Year 7 and Year 8 students getting involved.

Well done to these prize winners for best dressed:

Year 5 – Nate Muller and Sarah Hoppe
Year 6 – Lexie Forbes and Lucie Bennie
Year 7 – Josh Dippelsmann and Georgie Russell
Year 8 – JJ Greenaway, Chelsey Cave, Abbey Garvey    

Leadership Passport – Update

This is Josh Dippelsmann in Year 7. He is the latest student to take up our leadership development challenge through the passport model and the 90^th this year (I wonder who will be our 100^th student). This week, Josh booked a meeting with me to discuss his desire to start his journey in leadership skill development. Through the discussion, he realised that a lot of his volunteer work this year can be counted for the Leadership Passport Level 1 booklet and he is well on his way to completing the booklet despite only having had it for a handful of days. Well done, Josh. All the best with the remaining tasks. I think we will be celebrating your graduation to Level 2 very soon.      

If your child is thinking about starting their leadership development journey, encourage them to book a meeting with me via the front office. Remember, people are not born leaders. Good leaders are made. It takes time, effort, and a lot of practice and that is what the Leadership Passport model.

 Mr Craig Cullen

Assistant Principal Middle Years