Kids Get Creative: Book Week with a twist as local school encourages students to think deeper| CathEd Parra

For schools across the nation, Book Week was celebrated through the theme of ‘Symphony of Stories’. For St Joseph’s Primary in Kingswood, they wanted to redefine Book Week and delve into the idea of bringing words to life.

Principal Rochelle Borg explained in their classrooms this year, teachers have been executing explicit teaching around vocabulary helping students unpack words and their meaning.

“Within our classrooms this year, our teachers have been doing some really great explicit teaching around vocabulary, unpacking words, what they mean in context in novels, but also in other contexts across our rich curriculum of different subjects,” Borg said.

St Joseph’s Primary wanted to unpack Book Week and showcase a deeper meaning to the parade. Yes, students dressed as their favourite book character but with an added twist. Students had to dig deeper into those characters and think, what’s a word that would best describe the character, but it doesn’t stop there. St Joseph’s Primary gave students the opportunity to come dressed as a word and unpack the meaning behind it.

“A lot of teachers decided to pick a word and unpack what that word means and develop a costume that showcases that word to bring it to life,” Borg said.

With the new approach, students were encouraged to look beyond the characters’ appearance and instead focus on the personality and values of a character.

“We really wanted to dig deep with the character, thinking about the storyline, and to really deepen their comprehension of texts and novels their reading in class,” she said.

“We really wanted to have lessons now in the classroom following what they’re dressing up as.

“So, in the classrooms, there will be explicit teaching of each of the words they chose, to spark a love of vocabulary and a love of reading for students.”

The school really focused on students expanding their vocabulary in the hopes students will talk and connect to each other, through the medium of literature and words.

“We’re thinking if one student can actually talk about their word and their character in a very deep, meaningful way, it will inspire someone else to say, ‘Oh, I really want to read that novel, and then go and find that in our library’,” Borg said.

The addition of words to the costume, sparks a topic of conversation amongst not only the students but teachers too, bringing a new meaning to the book parade.

“It brings the parade to life, especially for our older students who have been through many parades, I think this gives that next level edge to make it more inclusive for everyone to be involved,” Borg said.

With the goal of Book Week at St Joseph’s Primary School to bring words to life, students were able to dress up as their favourite character or word, and yet still learn a valuable lesson in literacy.

“We know that the more sophisticated vocabulary our children can use, not only in their daily lives, but connecting it with the novels or the books and texts they’re reading and then transfer that into their writing, really enhances their learning and flourishing as a student, and that’s what we want at our school,” Borg said.

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The Western Weekender

The Western Weekender
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27 Aug 2026
From Facebook
📚✨ SJK’s Book Parade Comes Alive! ✨📚 Our school grounds transformed into a living storybook as students paraded in their incredible character costumes, each one a walking chapter of imagination, effort and pure love of reading. 🎭📖 This year, St Joseph’s added an exciting twist to our Book Week Parade, students didn’t just dress as their favourite characters they brought them to life with rich, powerful vocabulary! From “courageous” and “mysterious” to “mischievous” and “extraordinary,” the words they chose revealed not only their creativity but also their growing confidence as readers and writers. 🌟 It was a joy to hear them explain why their character was “brave,” “loyal,” or “adventurous,” and to witness the deep connections they’ve formed with the stories they love. This celebration is another shining example of how we set high expectations and look for creative ways to connect every celebration and experience to the explicit teaching and learning happening in our classrooms every day. 🍎📚 A huge thank you to our wonderful families for supporting this special day and to our dedicated staff for making it so engaging, fun and full of wonder. 🌈📖 Here’s to many more chapters of creativity at SJK! 🎉📚

27 Aug 2026
From Facebook
🙏✨ Yesterday, our school captains proudly represented our school at the Education Mass celebrated at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta. This special liturgy coincided with the 40th Anniversary of the Diocese of Parramatta, and as part of Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese (CSPD), we are also celebrating 40 years of faith-filled education in our school communities.

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