IF you love to read, you understand the power of books.
There are few times when the magic of books shines brighter than during Children’s Book Week. The national event took place in August, highlighting the importance of all children falling in love with reading or at least embracing it.
“It’s about story. It’s not (always) about reading and literacy, but just love of story,” local author Renee Conoulty said.
“And story isn’t always about reading with your eyes. It’s having a story read to you, it’s listening.”
Ms Conoulty is also a teacher’s assistant and runs the Sale and District Specialist School library, where she read a self-published book called Little Lamb’s Big Day Out to a group of primary and secondary school students during Book Week.
Ms Conoulty said making ‘story’ accessible and engaging was critical.
“Especially in a school like this where we have such a range of abilities, having that joy and that love of story in its many forms – in movies, in books, in listening to someone read, in reading something yourself, in graphic novels,” she said.
Every day out of uniform is a day of celebration, and last Thursday, students and staff embraced dressing up to the fullest.
Spiderman, Mario, and Luigi all made appearances. Beck Bagshaw, who is a champion of wellbeing and student support at Sale and District Specialist School, dressed up as Little Bo Peep. Curiously, her plus-one for the day wasn’t a plush sheep but a real one named Barry.
Barry is a celebrity among students and staff, so much so that Ms Conoulty wrote and published a book about him. It’s called Little Lamb’s Big Day Out and is the book she read to Maddison Richmond, Harrison Clark, Daemon Normanton-Harrison, Zavier Garrett, Marcus Semodio, Sophie Weekes, Cody Richardson, and Blake Triffitt in the school library last week.
The rhythm and rhyme scheme follows Mary Had a Little Lamb, but instead of beginning with ‘Mary had a little lamb, his fleece was white as snow’, the story goes like this:
‘Beck rescued a little lamb. His name was Barry White.
‘Although he couldn’t sing a song, his bleats brought great delight.
‘He went with her to school one day dressed in his woolly coat.
‘The kids said he was cute. One thought he was a goat.
‘You may believe the rules would say lambs shouldn’t go to school. But teachers here thought animals of all kinds are cool.
‘There also was an awesome dog who came to school each day. Teddy loved to help the kids to laugh, to learn, to play.’
Ms Conoulty said Barry’s first school visit inspired the book, which is the 53rd the author has published. The lamb was abandoned after birth but found a family at the school after Ms Bagshaw brought him for a visit at just two days old.
“Beck said, ‘You should write a book about his adventure at school,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, he’s had a big day out coming to school’ because little lambs don’t normally go to school,” Ms Conoulty explained.
She said the book references that having a lamb at school is typically against the rules. However, she said the faculty embraces instances where students can interact with animals, believing exposure to different animals and experiences is important.
“Animals are good for the soul,” Ms Bagshaw said as Barry napped in her lap.
“They’re very therapeutic, and the kids love (Barry). I often see a difference when we walk into that classroom,” she continued.
Ms Bagshaw said it taught students to regulate their emotions.
“The kids bond with the animals, and it teaches them that you’ve got to be calm and quiet.”
She said students sit quietly, waiting for Barry to make his rounds.
Barry isn’t the only animal students can interact with. The school keeps chickens and fish and has raised calves in the past. It also has a wellbeing dog named Teddy, who features in Barry’s story.
“We often have eggs, and we hatch them – we have incubators and hatch baby chicks and ducklings as well”, Ms Conoulty said.
Sale and District Specialist School offers students more than the average school experience, Ms Bagshaw explained, and the animals are a large part of that.
“We like to have a variety of things to offer the kids here because when they leave, they’re going to go into different jobs… We’re an agricultural place, near farming land, not only do we teach life skills, but (we’re) setting kids up for jobs,” Ms Bagshaw said.
Barry had another big day out last Thursday morning when students and staff marched around the grounds dressed as their favourite book characters. Parents were invited to watch the parade, which is a fun feature of Children’s Book Week shenanigans in schools across Australia.
Ms Conoulty said a Scholastic Book Fair ran as well, and students or parents could purchase books on display in the library. Of the events held throughout the year, she said Book Week is given a lot of attention. Parents attended the parade to cheer on the students and were then invited to morning tea.
Ms Bagshaw said it allows them to see what their children do at school, saying that it’s important parents are involved in their child’s education.
“They can have a chat with the teachers on a casual basis, and then if they want to have a little stroll and have a look in the classrooms and have a look at their artwork or bookwork. It’s like an open day,” Ms Bagshaw said.
“Our kids do have complex needs, special needs… They’re not always able to go, ‘We did this, this, and this at school today,’ and have that conversation with parents. So, it’s important that the teachers are able to have that conversation with parents,” she said.
After a big week of book-themed fun, students and staff were all tuckered out, just like Barry, who will have slept and dreamt of fields to roam, just like he did at the end of Little Lamb’s Big Day Out.
