From William Roberts, Head of Library Services
Inspiring your son’s reading journey
Each year the College provides an opportunity for students in Years 7 to 9 to listen to stories being read out aloud. Your son’s teachers share literature and stories aimed to inspire and motivate your sons on their reading journey.
For Term 3 it was Year 8’s turn. During Term 3 we add to the experience via arranging to have a Year 12 drama performance by our HSC students.
This event is one way we build and foster a reading culture at Waverley. This year the Year 12 drama group performance was entitled “Stagehands”.
Our year 12 performers were Joshua Bale, Samuel King, Leo Bosi and Simon Finnegan.
Boys listened to the following teachers read – Kaitlyn Downey, Anne Fahy and Paul Cornish.
The stories your sons listened to were:
Desert Purist by Chris Ryan – Tales of daring heroism in the Middle East.
Conjuror by John and Carole Barrowman – A musically magical, yet somehow suburban tale.
The Man From Snowy River by Banjo Patterson recited without notes.
Celebrate National Reading Hour this week with your sons
Support the National Australian Reading Hour event and promote the health benefits of reading with your family. The Australian Reading Hour is officially on this Thursday September 20 and on this day we are challenged to devote one hour to reading! See this link for full details and for inspiration.
During this week and next boys in selected Wellbeing groups will participate in the event.
https://www.readinghour.org.au
From the Reading Hour website: Why read?
- Increasing literacy and numeracy skills has a positive and significant effect on jobs
- Reading reduces stress by 68%, relieving stress more quickly than listening to music, going for a walk or having a cup of tea
- Children who know adults who read for pleasure take it for granted that reading is valuable
- The more leisure books people read, the more literate they become and the more prosperous and equitable the society they inhabit
- Reading a gripping novel causes positive biological changes in the brain that can last for days
- When tested for empathy, readers of narrative fiction achieved significantly higher than other groups
- Reading is closely linked to increasing our understanding of our own identities
- It was found by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research that reading to children six to seven days a week puts them almost a year ahead of those who are not being read to.
