The 2025 theme is ‘Book an Adventure’ and what an adventure we have had! Our school was transformed into a vibrant hub of storytelling, creativity and literary adventure. We are incredibly blessed to have of our amazing team at Holy Cross, passionate educators who go above and beyond to make learning exciting, meaningful and fun for every child.

Highlights from the Week:

• Book Week Assembly: The absolute highlight of the week had to be our Book Week Assembly! After a shared prayer about the most important book in our faith, the bible and a beautiful performance from the choric group, we all got to show off our costumes and best dance moves as we boogied the morning away. Thank you to all families for your outstanding creativity and support to bring characters to life.

• Guest Readers & Storytime: Throughout the week, the library was thrilled to host guest readers at lunch time who shared their favourite stories with students, sparking laughter, curiosity and a deeper love of reading through engaging read-alouds.

• Book Club Buzz: The Scholastic Book Club was a huge hit as always. It offers families a convenient way to build personal book collections and foster a lifelong love of reading. Every purchase also supports our school with commission earned going towards extending our school library collection and book prizes for students. Orders amounting to $1872 were placed, earning the school $281 towards new book purchases.
• The Great Book Swap - a Yr 5 Community Crew initiative: Students have been bringing in pre-loved books all week along with a gold coin. This fundraising initiative not only promotes sustainable reading habits and raises awareness about literacy equity across Australia, it fosters empathy and equity through action. Children can be changemakers. The Community Crew has successfully raised $111 for the charity, Reading Out of Poverty, who are bringing the joy of reading to First Nations children. Their aim is to organise pop-up libraries in Yarrabah and support the children with stories that reflect their identity and heritage. The Community Crew will organise the actual  swapping of books next Friday, 5th September.
• Bedtime Storytime at School: One of the week’s much-loved events was our Bedtime Storytime. This year, it was held during school hours allowing all children to participate. It was a normal school day with a cosy twist. Children brought a snuggle toy to be their active learning buddy for the day. Our staff donned their PJs and read bedtime stories to students. Many classes enjoyed time with their buddies and meeting new bedtime toys. The staff raised funds for the Pyjama Foundation, who support children in foster care with learning and literacy resources.

• Imaginative Worlds with AI: During library lessons, Year 3 to 6 students have had the chance to use artificial intelligence to create imaginative worlds where the impossible is brought to life. From floating cities to flying pink dolphins, chocolate cake castles to elephants in suits, students used Adobe Express to bring their wildest ideas to life. These visual prompts will inspire rich narratives, blending storytelling and creativity with technology in exciting new ways.

Book Week is more than just costumes and fun, it’s a celebration of the power of stories to inspire, connect, discover and educate. We look forward to continuing to nurture a love of reading in every child, one story at a time.

Jo Neil
Teacher Librarian