Message From the Principal

Paulina Skerman

College Principal

This week we have celebrated Book Week and this year’s theme is Reading is My Secret Power! Sadly, with the advent of computer games, Netflix, Facebook updates and Tweets (that are made up of no more than 280 characters), reading a book or lengthy magazine article has for many become a thing of the past.  We should not develop habits that take us away from the joy of reading substantial writings because reading is indeed powerful and transformative. Avid readers do have secret powers! They are able to lose themselves in a well-written novel travelling to new places, meeting new people and visiting different eras. Reading promotes mindfulness, keeping us in the present, letting tension drain away and allowing for relaxation to take place.  Reading expands our vocabulary; good readers are good writers and they become confident speakers. Articulate people have greater impact and more opportunities to access great careers.  Reading aids memory improvement forcing us to remember each character’s story. Every new memory we create forges new brain pathways and strengthens existing ones, which assists in short-term memory recall.  Reading also makes us great at problem solving – either through working out ‘whodunit’ in a murder mystery or through analysing the way characters solve problems they encounter giving us new tools with dealing with problems we meet in our lives. Reading improves imagination, focus and concentration. A reader is easily entertained, anytime, anywhere.  Characters in novels provide another perspective, they help shape how we see ourselves and our world and offer a thoughtful kind of wisdom on which to reflect.

I leave you with my favourite words from my favourite books:

“She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines.  She was beautiful, for the way she thought.  She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved.  She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks.  She was beautiful, deep down to her soul.” –The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

 

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 

“You are your best thing” –Beloved by Toni Morrison

 

“As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen” –Winnie the Pooh by A.A Milne

 

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” –I can read with my eyes shut by Dr Seuss

Blessings

Paulina