It was a literary celebration at Carmel High School for Reading Week. Our story opened last Monday in the BT Hall as we hosted a WACE English conference and welcomed students from St James Anglican School, Alkimos. SCSA stalwart John Watson offered his insight into the trickier terms in the Year 12 syllabus, before听Mrs听Cunningham and听Mr听O鈥橞rien shared their perspectives as WACE markers for Literature and English.听

Entering a Year 7 classroom was slam poet Kai Schweizer, while best-selling YA author AJ Betts returned to the campus to talk poetry and plot with听our听Year 10, 11 and 12听students.听 A key turning point was Mark Greenwood, former rock drummer and WA鈥檚 best kept literary secret, regaling Years 8听and听9听students听with tales of Australian history,听both tall and true.听

The dramatic tension held firm through lunchtime Spelling Bees, gigantic word games, and memes of the English department in period garb. By Thursday's climax, an unprecedented rush to the library saw students borrowing armfuls of books for the holidays. Rave reviews abounded.听Every week should be Reading Week, they cried from every classroom. What a success!听