Christchurch pupils in world literature final

Four Christchurch schoolchildren have won a place in the world final of the Kids’ Lit Quiz and will travel to England next month to represent NZ against seven other countries.

The four pupils of The Cathedral Grammar School won the competition recently in a sudden death best of three round at the end of the final, which had evolved from regional competitions involving almost 400 teams across the country.

Brianna Roberts, Geraldine Roche, Lucy Tothill (all year eight) and Edward Roche (year seven) answered questions across 10 categories of literature, from nursery rhymes and children’s classics, to comics and the latest books written for young adults.

They had to be conversant with authors, titles, illustrators, characters, settings and the opening words of a book.

Cathedral Grammar School acting headmaster Malcolm Long says: “This win is a wonderful demonstration of the commitment and enthusiasm of these children not only to read extensively, but also enjoy and understand what they read.

“Reading is a fundamental part of schooling here and we aim to instil a love of reading. We help pupils to read literature and use it to develop their grammar and writing.”

Kim Rutter, mother of team members Geraldine and Edward, says her children simply love reading.

“As youngsters they were desperate to read and now read all the time across many different genres.

“They discovered reading when they were at the Cathedral Grammar pre-school and have never looked back. Geraldine reads a book a day and Edward reads two or three a week, depending on his other activities.”