Sancta Maria College has chosen their representative team for the 2018 Readers Cup. The 5 students were chosen last Monday out of the 28 students competing, proving their reading prowess through answering a series of questions based on 3 novels and a poem they had been given to study.
The first stage of the 2018 Readers Cup was completed last Monday. Six teams of 4-5 students from Year 9 competed, with 28 students in total. The competitors were chosen through referrals from the English teachers. The competition was organised by Mrs O’Rorke, with help from Mrs Dickson, and was judged by Mrs Sullivan and Mrs Goddard.
The avid readers have been training since the start of this year. Their training took the form of being given two novels, a poem, and the first chapter of a third novel to read. Half way through the term, all the competing students gathered for a progress meeting with practice questions. The objective of the competition was to encourage deep reading and to foster a love of literature. The Readers Cup has been held for several years on the North Shore at Takapuna Grammar School, but this is the first year Sancta Maria College has competed.
There are two confirmed stages to the competition, and a third proposed stage. The first was the in-school competition held on Monday to select our Sancta Maria team. Next is the East and South Auckland inter-school competition. This will involve 9 other schools, and will be held at our school 28 June. Students will required to read and study six books.
The final proposed stage will hopefully be an Auckland-wide final to be held at Takapuna Grammar School in term 3.
The winning team from Monday, who will go on to represent Sancta Maria College at the East and South Auckland competition, is – Mary Crowe, Hayley Clark, Joshua Balisa, Sean Carlos, and Finley Dougherty. Their prize is cup and a $15 Whitcoulls voucher each, which was awarded at assembly on Tuesday.
Mrs O’Rorke hopes that the Readers Cup will be continued at Sancta Maria College in future years, and that next year, enough regions will take part for there to be a national final.
Danica Loulie-Wijtenburg
