St Mary’s Primary at Bowraville does Book Week with a difference Nambucca Valley Nambucca Valley - popup ad Nambucca Valley News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - August 30, 2024 St Mary’s Primary Year 3 students Aliyana Buchanan and Bradley Walker (front) at Nambucca Valley Radio with teacher Ms Jody Unterrheiner and radio presenter Mick Birtles (left). BOOK WEEK is very much a favourite time of year for school students across the country. This year St Mary’s Primary at Bowraville included some extra layers of learning enjoyment to their Book Week program. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au In addition to their Book Week Parade in amazing costumes, the school invited some special guests to come and read to the students. Senior Constable McBain and Constable Robertson from Bowraville Police paid a visit to read stories to three St Mary’s classes. A representative from the Bowraville Fire Brigade also read for students. Much to the delight of students, the school received a special video message from renowned author Andy Griffiths, the man responsible for the best selling Treehouse Series of children books. Two of St Mary’s Year 3 students, Aliyana Buchanan and Bradley Walker, were selected to visit the Tewinga studios of Nambucca Valley Radio (2NVR) and read two short stories on air. The pair read the stories Stone Soup and The Smallest Dog in the World during 2NVR’s Wednesday afternoon radio show ‘Mick in the Middle’, doing so with perfect pronunciation and microphone technique. St Mary’s teacher Ms Jody Unterrheiner accompanied the students and had an ‘on air’ discussion of the benefits of reading to children with 2NVR announcer Mick Birtles. “There is very strong evidence that reading to your children can improve academic performance, improve comprehension, build vocabulary, help promote a love of reading, develop problem-solving skills, develop imagination and creativity, and help build empathy,” Ms Unterrheiner told News Of the Area. “It is strongly recommended that parents and siblings start reading to children early and often and that they don’t stop reading to them when the children can read themselves.” During the broadcast, Ms Unterrheiner pointed out how inexpensive it can be to obtain great books for children in the Nambucca Valley due to the great range available at the Nambucca Heads and Macksville libraries and the availability of second hand books from op shops. Aliyana and Bradley returned to St Mary’s on Wednesday afternoon to find that some of the classes had been able to tune in and listen to them on air, resulting in them achieving a degree of celebrity status among their school friends who greeted them with a round of applause.
