Thousands of children around Australia were treated to story time on Wednesday but only those at the Queanbeyan Public School had, as one child called him, the ‘boss of all schools’ to lead the narration.
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At 11am, a rare moment of quiet descended on primary schools across the nation as they all listened in for the annual National Simultaneous Storytime.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham read this year’s book, The Cow Tripped Over the Moon, which he said was an ideal story to promote reading and literacy.
“[It’s] a story about resilience, a story about trying and trying again, and ultimately a story about success,” he said.
“And there are some wonderful lessons in this, but, of course, it’s importantly an opportunity to focus on literacy skills, on the importance of reading, reading together, and how we establish those foundational skills on which the rest of educational success depends.”
Afterwards, the Queanbeyan children had their chance to ask the minister some tough questions.
What’s the hardest thing about being education minister? If you could stop being the minister, would you?
“No I love my job despite frustrations.”
How do you deal with all of those cameras?
“The media are mostly nice people but can be tricky sometimes.”
And some not so tough questions.
His favourite colour? “Green”. Why? “I suspect it's because of the environment.”