A selected group of Stage 3 students, attended the inaugural CBCA's A Lunch with the Stars - a wonderful celebration of books, stories and creativity!

Throughout the day, students enjoyed exciting book trivia, listened to inspiring talks from authors and illustrators, took part in interactive draw-alongs and collected plenty of signatures from their favourite storytellers.

We were very fortunate to share our tables with two incredible authors, Debra Tidball and Clayton Zane Comber, who generously shared their stories, answered questions and inspired our young readers and writers.

The fun didn’t stop there! Students also joined in a table centrepiece competition, with one of our groups crowned as the winner! And a special congratulations goes to Samma, who won a prize in the illustrator Tom Jellett’s draw-along.

A huge thank you to the CBCA, our authors and illustrators and all involved in creating such a memorable day for our students.

Our Teacher Librarian, Mrs Brien, surprised our Stage 2 students with an incredible opportunity​ - where they meet international bestselling author Jeff Kinney via ZOOM!

Jeff Kinney is the creator of the much-loved Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and he gave our students a special guided tour of his studio, all the way from America! It was an unforgettable experience that left our students absolutely buzzing with excitement!

Each year, CBCA Book Week brings schools across Australia together to celebrate the joy of reading and the richness of Australian children’s literature. In 2025, the theme was ‘Book an Adventure’, running from August 16th to 23rd.

The stunning theme artwork, created by illustrator Jess McGeachin, encouraged students to set sail on new journeys through the pages of a book.

At Gregory Hills Public School, our Book Week celebrations were full of excitement! We were delighted to host author duo Kate and Jol Temple, who entertained and inspired students with their lively stories. Other highlights included our much-loved book character dress-up day, the bustling Scholastic Book Fair, and engaging author ZOOM sessions. A special highlight was our Stage 3 students attending the CBCA Book of the Year Awards Ceremony, an unforgettable chance to see Australian literature celebrated on a national stage.

Thank you to our wonderful school community for making Book Week 2025 such a memorable adventure!

As part of our 2025 Book Week celebrations, we had the pleasure of welcoming award-winning author duo Kate and Jol Temple to our school on Wednesday, 20th August.

Kate and Jol delighted students with their humour, energy, and engaging storytelling, bringing to life some of their much-loved books including Bin Chicken, The Underdogs, Frog Squad and Trashy Tales. The visit was filled with laughter, fun, and plenty of inspiration, making it a truly memorable experience for all.

Students also had the opportunity to have their books signed and cherished meeting the creators behind the stories they love. It was a wonderful highlight of our Book Week celebrations!

Our annual Book Character Dress Up Day was a colourful celebration of imagination and reading! Students and staff filled the school with favourite storybook characters – from classic heroes to new favourites. The creativity and enthusiasm on display made it a joyful highlight of our Book Week celebrations.

In the lead-up to Book Week 2025, a group of 18 students had the exciting opportunity to travel with Mrs Brien and Mrs Dreon to the State Library of NSW to attend the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards Ceremony.

Students experienced the official announcement of the winning books across six categories and enjoyed listening to engaging discussions from authors, illustrators and industry experts. From page-turning adventures to thought-provoking stories and even live cartooning, the day offered fascinating insights into the world of Australian children’s literature.

It was a truly inspiring experience for our budding readers and writers – and a wonderful way to begin our Book Week celebrations.

What a wonderful day we had yesterday, celebrating the joy of reading together! Our school proudly took part in this year’s National Simultaneous Storytime event , joining over 2.2 million students across 16,000+ locations to read 'The Truck Cat' by Deborah Frenkel, illustrated by Danny Snell.

Our K-2 students gathered in the library for a shared reading and a fun, guided cat drawing activity, while our Years 3–6 students enjoyed the story in their stage groups and also unleashed their creativity through art.

A big thank you to all the students and staff for making this such a special event! Our Teacher Librarian Mrs Brien even dressed up as Yacoub the truck driver! What a fantastic way to celebrate books, storytelling, and imagination!

What an unforgettable day with the incredible Tim Harris! Our Stage 1 students had the best time laughing along to his quirky stories and meeting the author behind some of their favourite books, including the Ratbags series and This is MY Book!

Tim shared his creative process, inspiration and a whole lot of fun with our students, leaving them even more excited about reading and writing! A big thank you to Tim for visiting and signing books, making this day so special for our young readers!

On Monday, 3rd March 2025, all our Year 3 and 4 Students plus 5 Blue Tongue were lucky to have author Kristin Darell come to visit our school. During library lessons, students have been exploring her ‘Taronga Presents’ book series and researching animals found at Taronga Zoo.

Kristin brought her books to life with bucket loads of energy, enthusiasm and warmth, which made the session so engaging. She had the students hanging on her every word and it was wonderful to see them so captivated and inspired. Our students also found out that our very own Teacher Librarian, Mrs Diana Brien, was written into one of Kristin's Taronga books as a book character - Diana, Head of Education, Taronga Zoo (Book 4: Night Owls). How cool is that!

Kristin’s ability to connect with young readers, share her journey and encourage their own storytelling was incredibly special. It’s not every day that young readers get to meet an author who will surely make a lasting impact. The visit has sparked a buzz about her books, which we will enthusiastically keep building upon during our library sessions.

We were full of excitement and delight, when Russ the Story Bus came to visit us here at Gregory Hills Public School! Students in Years 1-6 were involved in this amazing Sydney Writers' Festival initiative, which involves bringing bringing authors and illustrators to schools aboard a magical mobile library, aiming to foster a love of books and reading. Each student that was involved on the day, got to explore the many books upon the shelves of Russ and walk away with their own free book! 

We were so very fortunate to have two industry award-winning creatives on the day – collaborative author/illustrator team Andrew McDonald and Ben Woods (creators of the Real Pigeons and Hello Twigs series). Andrew and Ben engaged and entertained our students with their presentation and also signed an autograph for each and every one of our students!

It was truly a magical experience and we are so very grateful to the Sydney Writers’ Festival team, including Jesse, Rachel and Beaver the Bus Driver, for bringing this amazing experience to our school!

Thank you to all of our grandparents and friends who made our Pop Up Book Fair a success! This helped to add more books to our school library!

The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book Week is a major event in the Australian school library calendar, celebrating Australian children's literature and the invaluable work of school library staff in promoting reading. For Book Week 2024, the theme is ‘Reading is Magic’, and the official dates are August 17th to 23rd, 2024.

Jess Racklyeft is the talented Australian illustrator, who has  designed the graphics for the 2024 CBCA theme, exploring how reading transports to new worlds, fosters new ideas, and fosters understanding of others.

What a beautiful Book Week we had at Gregory Hills Public School, with author visits from the fabulously talented James Foley and Sue Whiting, book character dress up day and family lunch and Scholastic book fair! Big thanks to our whole school community for their energy and enthusiasm!

During Book Week we were lucky enough to have two amazing authors come to visit! Both James Foley and Sue Whiting entertained and inspired our students, with their delightful stories and storytelling!

GrHPS participated in the 2024 National Simultaneous Storytime event, along with over 2.3 million participants, in more than 20,000 locations around Australia. 

The 2024 Australian book share title was Bowerbird Blues, by Aura Parker and celebrated on Wednesday, 22nd May. Along with the story read, we were guided by the author/illustrator, Aura Parker, who helped us to draw a bowerbird.

Thank you to everyone who brought in a gold coin for donation, that will go towards library resources and exciting literacy events.

As part of our Harmony Day celebrations, students were treated to a special visit from local author and educator, Pho Yann. She delighted us with her debut picture book, 'Spring Rolls and Vegemite Sandwiches', which celebrates culture, food and friendship. We thank Pho for entertaining and inspiring our students, as well as the books that were gifted to some of our lucky students!

GrHPS was very fortunate to have the remarkably talented author/illustrator, Matt Cosgrove, come to visit! He is most famously known for his Macca the Alpaca picture book series, as well as illustrating the Worst Week Ever! series (co-authored by Eva Amores). Students were highly entertained as Matt shared stories of his creative journey, demonstrated how to draw Macca the Alpaca and even hosted a runway show for the primary kids. In the lead-up to the event, 3-6 students re-created a Worst Week Ever! book series cover and Matt chose a winner from each of the classes, who won an autographed book prize on the day!

International Dot Day, encourages creativity, collaboration, and resilience in students, inspired by Peter H. Reynolds' book The Dot, published on the same date in 2003. The story within The Dot revolves around a teacher motivating a hesitant student to take a small creative step, fostering confidence and courage. At GrHPS, we celebrated the event by exploring dot-related activities in library and classroom lessons and also invited students to dress up in clothes of their choice on the day!

GrHPS has wrapped up its first official Book Week event, which was a joyous celebration of books and reading! We celebrated the stories that inspire us, the authors who spark our imaginations and the characters who become our friends. Many fun activities were planned throughout the week and also in the lead up for the students to enjoy - and they participated with bucket-loads of eagerness and enthusiasm! 

It was great to see so many enthusiastic students get dressed up for the Book Character parade, with many families staying for our family lunch too! It was such a fun day!

Our first official Book Fair was a huge success, where student and family purchases helped to raise a massive $932.50 in resources for our school library!

All of our classes participated in decorating their classroom doors, with a fun book-themed display! Hopefully, families enjoyed viewing them during our lunch day!

Throughout the week, all of students across K-6 participated in ZOOM live stream author/writing workshops organised through the State Library of NSW. 

Through an enchanting celebration of literature and imagination, Perform Education came to our school to entertain and delight our students in the lead up to Book Week. In a fun, dynamic and interactive performance, our students really enjoyed the 'Way Too Cool' show, featuring the shortlist books that have been studied during library lessons including, Jigsaw: A Puzzle in the Post, Dirt By Sea and My Strange Shrinking Parents.

National Simultaneous Storytime is an exciting Australian literacy event, hosted by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Every year, a picture book is shared simultaneously in public and school libraries and pre-schools around the country. The 2023 event involved over 2.35 million participants at over 59,000 locations. It aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, as well reading for fun and enjoyment.

The 2024 Australian book share title was The Speedy Sloth, by Beck Young and illustrated by Heath McKenzie and celebrated on Wednesday, 24th May.

As part of the event, students of Gregory Hills PS wore sports clothes and brought in a gold coin donation, to sponsor our very own sloth through the Sloth Conservation Foundation! We gathered together in our school hall for the shared story read and also participate in a guided drawing experience with the illustrator, Heath McKenzie.