Samantha Rogut – Head of Library & Information Services (K-6)

Celebrating Book Week 2023 
Read, Grow, Inspire

To celebrate Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book Week 2023, Emanuel School hosted well-known British comedian and author, David Baddiel, who spoke about his celebrated children’s novels and writing process. 

Touring company Perform! Education kicked off the week early by entertaining students with their Book Week 2023 Musical and students participated in Book Week quizzes throughout the week winning fabulous book prizes. 

For the start of Book Week 2023, students came dressed as their favourite character from a book, and brought a gold coin donation to support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Wednesday was arguably everyone’s favourite; Book Week cookie day. Students were presented with a special cookie embossed with the CBCA theme for this year, Read, Grow, Inspire.

Kindergarten, Years 1 and 2

Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 attended a live performance of Perform! Education’s WAY TOO COOL! adventure which celebrated the CBCA Book Week 2023 theme: Read, Grow, Inspire.  Books featured on the CBCA 2023 shortlist were woven into an engaging, original narrative which celebrated friendship and kindness to others in an ever changing world.

Year 3

David Baddiel inspiring the students

Year 3 celebrated Book Week with a quiz created especially for them. Students hunted for answers to the quiz questions about the CBCA Shortlist books. The library was filled with excited chatter as students searched for answers hoping to be the winner and collect a book prize.

Years 4, 5 and 6

With thanks to Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, we were delighted to have David Baddiel, British comedian, author, screenwriter, and television presenter visit for a very special Q&A in the Millie Phillips Theatre. Year 6 Library Leaders led the Q&A session posing questions submitted by Emanuel School students. 

We had a fabulous time celebrating Book Week 2023 at Emanuel!

Collective painting of the history of Emanuel School

On Tuesday, our Primary students had a wonderful day learning from the Wandana Aboriginal educators and creating a collective dot painting reflecting the History of Emanuel. For photos and information about the inspiring day, click on the article Four Concentric Circles.

Here’s what a few of the students had to say about the day.

“I got to develop my sense of Aboriginal art and culture by looking at different tools used by Aboriginals and adding to a traditional painting.” Jesse, Year 6

“It was fun learning about the Aboriginal culture and the different kinds of ingredients they used to paint and how they made art.” Sophia, Year 6

“I really enjoyed all the beautiful artwork and I never knew that there are so many different Aboriginal countries and languages.” Lola, Year 2

Grandparents and Friends Day 

We’re looking forward to seeing all Primary Grandparents on 8 September for a very special Rosh Hashanah event.

We are producing a special edition Emanuel School Recipe Book for Rosh Hashanah as a gift on Grandparents Day and would love to include your family’s favourites. Please email your recipes to marketing@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au. Please make sure to use metric measurements (eg ml and litres) and if you wish, a few lines on why this is your family’s go-to recipe.
We have extended the closing date for recipes to Monday 28 August 2023.