Where’s Wally?
As well as delighting children’s puzzle book readers around the world, he was at Leamington School last Thursday, joining The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Harry Potter and a rainbow of other literary characters in a lively parade outside the school hall.
From (left) Ruby Clark (Peter Pan), Arley Gerritsen (Alice in Wonderland), Hannah Cleaver (the Queen of Hearts), Indie Millar (Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka), Kara Streeter (Hermione Granger), Oliver Metcalfe (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and Charlotte Ball (Fern Arable from Charlotte’s Web) announce the winner of the best dressed teacher’s prize, which went to a group of colourful crayons.
Book Week was such a hit at the school in 2023 it was back again this year, ending with a dress-up day on Thursday.
Nine-year-old Alyssa Pene came as Kiwicorn, the main character of a New Zealand book by Kat Quin (formerly Merewether) that celebrates the unique differences that make people special.
Her classmate Eliza Fulforth came as a girl from The Borrowers, a book by Mary Norton about a family of tiny people who live secretly below a clock in an English house. Eliza’s mother Holly starred in a Playbox Theatre company performance of a play based on the book earlier this year.
Leamington School students (from left) Emma Bell, Alyssa Pene, Eliza Fulforth and Connor Adlam had loads of fun dressing up for Book Week.
Book Week kicked off on Monday with principal Mike Malcolm reading “The Little Yellow Digger” at assembly, where teachers played the digger, the tree and the mud. On Tuesday, students were treated to a show called “Way Too Cool!”.
Another highlight was a classroom door decorating competition, which Room 22 teacher Steph Gennills, was delighted her students had won. They chose a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book theme, drawing cartoons of themselves and even creating their own class diary.
“Book Week has been so much fun,” said Steph, who also won a teacher prize with a group of colleagues who dressed as crayons.
Deputy principal Leesa Cooper said the school had a new librarian, Karina Fox, who was contracted 16 hours per week to support tamariki to “find their love of reading”.
Room 22 classmates (from left) Charlotte Boss (the Lorax), Jessamy Olsen (Captain Underpants) and Casey Stinson (Ringo Ku) show off their classroom door, which won the best decorated competition for this year’s Book Week, held last Thursday (June 13).
