We had an amazing whirlwind journey to friendly Blackheath Public last week for the KOALA Awards Day and loved every second of it.

Thank you again for making it possible for our students to share their love of reading and get up-close and personal with their heroes.

Our Stage 2 and 3 Book Club members (which have more than doubled in size from last year… word got around we go to KOALA and it’s fantastic!) were in attendance again this year and would like to pass on their thanks…

Chris from 5M wrote:

“KOALA is a very fun event. At KOALA you get to meet authors like Morris Gleitzman, author of Boy overboard. My favourite part was when we had the author’s answer a time travel related question because it was interesting hearing their thoughts on various historical events.”

Adriana from 4L wrote:

“The experience of seeing lots of authors was fun. I loved this year’s KOALA awards. When we first got there a kind lady showed us to the book store. The school was very welcoming. After everybody finished buying books we went to go listen to the author’s do their speeches. Finally it was prize time. Two of our Book Clubers Harry and Jackson got to touch Morris Gleitzman’s hand as they handed him an award. Last of all they said if you got a gold sticker on your programme you would get an envelope and people who got a blue sticker got to get a book called Charlie and the war against the Grannies. I won the book which I really enjoyed. Then with a pleasant good bye from the school we left back for school. It was another 2 hours but it was worth it!”

Rishita from 3/4O and Danielle from 3F together wrote: “We hopped on a bus and it drove for 2 hours until we reached Blackheath. Then we bought books. At the start of the ceremony we watched a fabulous play. We loved the play and our favourite authors were Jacqueline Harvey and Deborah Abela. It was so worth going. You should go too! Even though it was a very long way away.”

Nicolas from 3F said: “I enjoyed watching all the authors doing their speeches and I liked David Legge draw the rabbit reading.”

Liam from 6W wrote: “It was a great day, and I loved hearing the authors’ answers to the question “Where would you go if you could travel through time?” We were also lucky to win 30 books for the library.”

Daniel from 3F wrote: “I really enjoyed the KOALA awards because I got to meet authors and illustrators. I also loved David Legge draw on the white board.”

Bronte from 5T said: “Even though it was a long 4 hour journey and we only got 2 hours at KOALA, it was worth it!”

Ollie from 3/4R wrote: “I liked the illustrator drawing the picture.”

Jo from 5T said: “I really liked the KOALA awards. Even though it was a 4 hour journey, it was worth it. We got to see awesome authors like Emily Rodda. It was awesome!”

Cecilia from 5T wrote: “I loved the KOALA awards even though it was a long trip at least I got to meet my favourite authors like Emily Rodda and Morris Gleitzman.”

Elle from 5/6L said: “KOALA was awesome. We saw lots of famous authors including Aaron Blabey, Emily Rodda, Morris Gleitzman and Deborah Abela.”

Ella from 3F said: “It is very fun, you can buy books and you can get your books signed. My favourite book is Alice-Miranda by Jacqueline Harvey. I also enjoyed the painting, it was amazing! I love KOALA.”

Danny from 6RA said: “I enjoyed seeing all the authors.”

Emily from 3F said: “We got to buy books and the author’s even signed our books, it was very fun! I really liked when some students from Blackheath School performed.”

Jackson from 6W wrote: “I enjoyed handing the gift to Morris Gleitzman.”

And Harry from 6RO also agreed saying: “I enjoyed giving the award to Morris Gleitzman.”

Thank you and we look forward to next year!

Svetlana Paul
Junior School and Gawura Teacher Librarian