St Christopher’s Catholic Primary School Holsworthy, Mount Colah School, Ascham, St Anne’s Strathfield South, St Columba’s Leichhardt, Leichhardt Public School and St Luke’s Dee Why

 

 

I loved visiting Mount Colah Public School, which is just a little further north from where I live.  Set among the trees, the school is picturesque.  The students were terrific and it was great to meet the librarian, Jennifer and her assistant and a local bookseller I hadn’t met before, Carolyn Rettalick as well as the Principal who came to watch my presentation.  I spoke to the girls (although you may notice there are two boys in the photo below with some of the students – they came along to my talk and had me sign books for their sisters) and they asked great questions and were very keen readers of Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose.

 

 

A couple of weeks later I visited St Anne’s Strathfield, a small school with incredibly enthusiastic readers.  I couldn’t quite believe how many books I signed there – something like 85 books for a population of 140 children.  Flory Cavallo, the librarian who looks after St Anne’s and St Columba’s is a great lady who obviously shares her love of books with the students.  She’s also a superstar at morning teas – and an enemy of my waistline!

 

 

I visited Ascham in Edgecliff the next day and managed to have a dream run with almost no traffic at all.  I always enjoy seeing the Ascham girls and they didn’t disappoint – although sadly there are no photos from the morning.  I wish I had been able to film the little girl who took on the role of Mr Sparks the snorer – I’ve never seen anything like it and clearly she is destined for a life on the stage.

 

On Thursday I headed over to Leichhardt for the day.  I wasn’t worried about getting to St Columba’s on time, until for whatever reason the traffic, which had been flowing well, came to a complete standstill on Victoria Road.  The minutes were ticking by way too quickly and although I thought I’d left home with an hour to spare, turns out the traffic beat me and I was a little bit late.  Grrr – Sydney traffic can be so unpredictable.  It was no problem though, as Flory adjusted the schedule and we were on track in no time.  Again the children were so enthusiastic and I loved meeting them.

 

 

Zoe and I visited Shearer’s Bookshop at lunchtime.  I’m sad that they’ve had to move out of their beautiful space in Norton Street but as always Barbara and Tony have done a terrific job with their relocation to The Marketplace – making the best of the situation (and a couple of weeks later winning Independent Bookseller of the Year and Bookshop Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards).  I managed a spot of 5 minute shopping too – at the Italian Shoe Shop in  Norton Street 🙂   

 

In the afternoon I visited Leichhardt Public School – it’s a big place and the children were lots of fun.  Completely engrossed and wonderful participants.  It was great to have the event at the end of the day as lots of the children brought their parents back to buy books and have them signed.

My final school on this leg of the tour was St Luke’s Dee Why.  I worked with the wonderful Jane Coffey from Novella Books in Wahroonga.  I had been looking forward to going to St Luke’s as one of my old colleagues, Sue Jenkins is the librarian there for the Junior School.  The campus has undergone some major building works in recent times and is looking fantastic.  I had a great time talking to the students in Years 3-5.  I will add a photo once I can access the one I have 🙂

Touring is great fun – it’s a joy to meet students and teachers and a privilege to have an opportunity to visit so many schools.