Ms Lynsey Porter, Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning
Pick Up a Book and Read
The upcoming holidays present an excellent opportunity for students to pick up a book and read. Reading is essential for boys’ literacy, as it helps shape their empathy and understanding of the world around them. In fact, the Year 7 Reading Program that we run at Waverley College provides opportunities for students to learn about the Global Competency of Character, specifically building an understanding of how a student can learn skills of empathy and compassion through the act of reading.
Our Literacy Coordinator is currently engaged in professional learning with the International Boys’ Schools Coalition: Professional Conversations About Boys and Reading. Working with a professional team from schools all across the network, these sessions delve into the burning questions about reading and boys’ literacy. From this professional learning, we are continuing to build our initiatives to engage our community as active readers.
Some of these include an introduction of verse novels into our Stage 4 reading program and the exciting launch of our inaugural student and parent/carer book club which is outlined below. We will continue to offer boys choice in reading materials, structured small reading circle activities, and book choices targeted at boys’ current reading levels leveraging data from NAPLAN and Allwell testing. You can learn more about some of these initiatives and access some recommended reading lists below in our update from our Literacy Coordinator.
These initiatives foreground the importance of students having a book in their bag ready to read. In a 2021 Meta-Analysis: Comparison of Children’s Reading on Paper Versus Screen by Furenes, Kucirkova and Bus, the research found that students reading a book versus a screen attained higher comprehension scores on the material. Furthermore, you can read a really powerful extract from His Holiness Pope Francis below, particularly his message around how, ‘We desperately need to counterbalance this inevitable temptation to a frenetic and uncritical lifestyle by stepping back, slowing down, taking time to look and listen. This can happen when a person simply stops to read a book.’
We encourage all students to take advantage of the holidays to establish or maintain habits to read for pleasure. To simply stop and read a book. Reading is a lifelong skill that will benefit our students in all aspects of their lives.
Updates from our Literacy Coordinator
Striving for Impact
In our continual search to make our reading program as engaging for your sons as possible, we network with our fellow EREA schools as well. In this process we have gained insights from other EREA schools during our shared Professional Learning day earlier this term and benchmarked our programs against best practice. We were particularly interested in what Dr Blowes – Principal at Christian Brothers Lewisham – had to say about recent research he had engaged with on the ways a print book can increase comprehension six fold. We also shared our work on inferential reading in Years 7 and 9.
Year 9 Student Receives Premier’s Reading Medal
We congratulate Rory Muldowney for completing the Premier’s Reading Challenge to reach the level of medal recipient. This is a great achievement to celebrate. Rory has read every year from Year 3 to Year 9 successfully completing the challenge for each year therein.
Pope Francis on Reading
For inspiration on the role that reading can play in our lives there is much to ponder here:
Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis on the role of literature in Formation
Here is a sample to inspire us to read more.
- Our usual view of the world, however, tends to be “telescoped” and narrowed by the pressure exerted on us by our many practical and short-term objectives. Even our commitment to service – liturgical, pastoral and charitable – can become focused only on goals to be achieved. Yet, as Jesus reminds us in the parable of the sower, the seed needs to fall on deep soil to ripen fruitfully over time, without being choked by rocky soil or thorns (Mt 13:18-23). There is always the risk that an excessive concern for efficiency will dull discernment, weaken sensitivity and ignore complexity. We desperately need to counterbalance this inevitable temptation to a frenetic and uncritical lifestyle by stepping back, slowing down, taking time to look and listen. This can happen when a person simply stops to read a book.
- We need to rediscover ways of relating to reality that are more welcoming, not merely strategic and aimed purely at results, ways that allow us to experience the infinite grandeur of being. A sense of perspective, leisure and freedom are the marks of an approach to reality that finds in literature a privileged, albeit not exclusive, form of expression. Literature thus teaches us how to look and see, to discern and explore the reality of individuals and situations as a mystery charged with a surplus of meaning that can only be partially understood through categories, explanatory schemes, linear dynamics of causes and effects, means and ends.
Announcing the Waverley College Book Club for Parents, Carers, Students, Staff
We are excited to announce the launch of the inaugural Waverley College Book Club at Waverley College Library, open to students, parents, carers, and staff alike!
Our first novel is the captivating Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. This heartwarming story, set in a small Tokyo café, explores themes of time travel, love, and second chances. It’s the perfect conversation starter for our first gathering!
The book club is not just about reading—it’s about building community through great stories, delicious food, and meaningful conversation. This insightful article published by ACU entitled ‘Why we need to stop telling boys they don’t like reading’ (Constantinou), provides some interesting insights into the challenges high school boys in particular face when it comes to perceptions around reading for pleasure.
Reading together helps strengthen our critical thinking, encourages empathy, and offers a wonderful escape from the everyday hustle. According to the International Boys’ School Coalition (IBSC), family time reading at home can encourage boys to develop as readers and develop a love for books. Perhaps there is no better way to celebrate this shared reading experience than to discuss the book together with other families and friends in a beautiful literary space at the College.
Whether you’re an avid reader or just looking to try something new, we welcome you to join us for this enriching experience. Food will be provided!
Stay tuned for more details on the date and time of our first meeting in Term 4 and come ready for lively discussion and connection.
Recommended Reading Lists
A reminder that the library has an extensive ebook and audiobook collection which is available anytime throughout the school holidays. All resources can be accessed via the Library CANVAS page. We also have a great range of novels for children and teens. Please see the recommended reading list for all year groups HERE.
Finally, the quick guide below provides useful strategies for parents/carers regarding motivating boys to pick up a book and read.
