23rd August 2022
Students and staff in the Girton Grammar Junior School will spend a week immersed in literature to celebrate BOOK Week 2022: Dreaming with Eyes Open. Students and teachers will be involved in daily classroom activities and a whole-school Book Week parade on Tuesday, 24th August.
Head of Girton Grammar Junior School, Mr Don Thompson, said that a key objective of every school should be to encourage young Australians to read for pleasure.
“Many people are concerned about the impact of digital information, including TV streaming, social media, and console gaming, is having on the reading habits of young Australians.
“The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) data indicates that Australia has had a 12 point drop in Reading performance over the past 10 years or so and has dropped from 6th to 12th in international OECD rankings. For this reason, our school has been working hard over the past 5 years to make reading a key focus for students in a world where they have a multitude of distractions.
“These things particularly impact teenagers, and we have a precious opportunity with Primary aged students to set good habits and instill a love of reading for pleasure, which is why initiatives such as Book Week are so important.”
“All educators are aware of reports of Australia’s school literacy levels lagging behind those of other countries. At home and in schools, we need to work hard to ensure that books remain an appealing, relevant and rewarding part of young people’s lives,” Mr Thompson said.
As well as daily book activities that will take place during lunchtime in the Junior School library, the following is a summary of some of the literacy activities that Girton Junior School students will enjoy during their Festival of Literacy:
Monday: Favourite books will be read and discussed with children by their classroom teacher and by students from the Girton Senior School.
Tuesday: The much-loved Book Week parade will take place with children and staff dressed as their favourite book characters. (See photos from the parade below)
Wednesday: Workshops with the Bendigo-based author, artist and illustrator, Mr Chris Kennett.
Thursday: Book “speed dating” classroom activity, where students share their thoughts on a favourite book with as many friends as possible within a 1 – 3 minute timed format.
Friday: A Book Week and Festival of Literature reflection will take place in each classroom.
“Our Junior School English teaching team and librarians have worked hard to make our Festival of Literature as engaging and fun as possible for the students.
“It is impossible to overstate the importance of making sure children are good readers. Today’s young people are tomorrow’s legislators, educators, politicians, writers, tax-payers and voters.
“By inspiring young people to read for pleasure, we are helping to produce better-educated citizens, with improved employment prospects, likely to make a greater contribution to society.
“It is vital that we develop the next generation of writers and illustrators to fuel the creative industries and support a culture of storytelling through future generations,” Mr Thompson said.
