Mount St Thomas students, teachers and parents transformed into Roald Dahl characters for a celebration of reading. Photos: Keeli Dyson.
The creations of an iconic storyteller have leapt off the page and come to life at Mount St Thomas Public School, with an immersive experience fostering a love of reading which has translated into ongoing literary and academic success.
From the enormous crocodile trying to trick children into becoming his lunch to Violet Beauregarde becoming a giant blueberry, Roald Dahl’s characters have excited the minds of young readers for decades.
“Roald Dahl books, they’ve been published for over 80 years, so they’ve stood the test of time and they really spark imagination and creativity,” librarian Priscilla Skarpona said.
“It’s been really great to see them reborrowed again and again.”
Now students, parents and teachers at Mount St Thomas have been inspired by his stories to transform their school and help highlight the magic of reading.
“We have everyone in the school community involved,” principal Ronda Moon said.
“We have parents and grandparents and kids dressed up with a Roald Dahl theme … all the teachers are in character, and the kids have been talking about the books for weeks leading up to this.
“We’ve had golden tickets out hidden in the playground for them to find.
“We’re having a big lolly and candy store; if you go around to all the gardens they’re full of fake sweets – it’s just an immersive experience.”
Parents and grandparents went all out to play their part in the parade.
The students revelled in the opportunity to showcase their creativity through costumes that looked plucked from the page.
Year 6 student Archie Crossingham turned heads with his giant inflatable crocodile costume.
“It put a smile on all the kids’ faces and it’s just something fun, and it’s a cool book,” Archie said.
“So the crocodile sets traps and tricks kids into falling into him so he can eat them, so he’s kind of a scary character but it’s funny.”
Ari Halldorsson from Year 4 also had trouble making his way through doors, as he transformed into one of the ill-fated children that wins a ticket to Willy Wonka’s factory.
“I just had a thought – fat blueberry girl – can I do it?” he said.
“I needed to get spraypainted with this inflatable because this was an orange Halloween blowup and then we went to the shops and got the tights and everything.
“Everyone has been freaking out.”
The event captured the whole school community to transform an individual activity into a shared experience.
The colourful event is just one of the ways the school is helping students to connect with books and benefit from the skills that being a reader can provide.
“That is my whole goal in life is to promote reading,” Priscilla said.
“My mantra is ‘today a reader, tomorrow a leader’.
“I really believe that readers are more successful in learning.”
The beautiful installations and environment of the library, as well as activations such as the Roald Dahl day have created a community of avid readers within the school.
“You get so immersed in this magical realm and don’t want it to end; it’s like everything else just disappears,” Ari said.
“I like reading because you can get creative and there’s a huge wide range of different kind of books and they’re so interesting,” Year 4 student Archie Shimmen said.
This passion for reading is reaping results, with the school’s largest-ever Year 3 cohort of 65 students recording reading results 20.7 points above the NSW state level and 5.5 points above the statistically similar school group (SSSG) in 2026 NAPLAN.
Year 5 students also performed strongly in reading, recording results 29.7 points above the state level and 17.8 points above the SSSG.
“We’ve actually had the biggest group this year ever complete the Premier’s Reading Challenge, so the kids are pretty competitive with that kind of thing,” Ronda said.
“This year we actually won the spelling bee junior and senior final so we’ve got two of our kids going off to the state final for the first year ever, which is fantastic.
“We’ve got kids doing public speaking and they just love performing, and they love the arts, they love books and we try to immerse them in as many opportunities as we can.”
With the whole school community coming together to celebrate, it’s helping take an often independent activity and making it a shared experience.
“I think that everyone else is engaged in it too. It’s not just like they’re reading in isolation on their own; everyone’s involved in some way,” Ronda said.
“Anything we can do to just show them that we’re engaged in all of that with them, it just fosters that love even more.”
