From the Head of School

A Love of Books

In my second year of secondary school, I was required to read ‘Wuthering Heights’ in my English class.  It took me years to recover.  The language was obscure, I couldn’t relate to the main characters, and I never fully worked out what was going on.

The intention to introduce great literature into the lives of young people may be worthy but it easily backfires: the unintended lesson for kids is ‘avoid this stuff; it’s not worth the effort.’

Grade 6 ended the week with a Book Study Exhibition - a chance to talk to others about the books that inspired them.  Unlike my experience, they were given a choice.  

Maggie chose a detective novel, Tyler a book about Formula 1, Millie a Romance, Allan a fantasy, Eric and Hasan a biography of Pele and Cameron a deep dive into the Solar System.

They went for subjects they loved, authors they had heard of, genres that appealed or, in the case of Maggie, a book they happened to see in the house and ‘just looked interesting.’  All were inspired.  Millie told me she was ‘not a big book person, but I really got into it.  I have read books 1 to 5 now.’

It wasn’t just the reading that inspired them.  They all had to create something in response to the book: a talking point inspired by what they had read.  Allan refused to do “another poster”, and created a ‘Dark Materials’ board game instead.  Leyla used her programming skills on a computer game.  Cameron created a computer animated guide to space, while Eric and Hasan made a video re-enacting Pele’s greatest goals.  They even wrote the accompanying song.

It was a joy to be part of Grade 6’s engagement and passion; made the more incredible by the fact that their exhibition was on a Friday, three weeks before the end of the school year.

I eventually recovered from my early Bronte experience, but with books of my own choosing.  I have continued to read into adult life, but always with the same theme: books I want to read, however they have caught my imagination.  

Grade 6 will go on to read more books and more complex books, not because anyone showed them ‘The Greats’ but because they were given a choice.