Along with thousands of children across Australia they paused at 11am to read Too Many Elephants in This House written by Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrated by Andrew Joyner.

A group of year 6 students, from the Students Information Service Committee, got dressed up for the occasion and acted out the story which was read by teacher/librarian Louise Couper.

Student Charley Fitzpatrick said they had a couple of rehearsals before the show.

“I enjoy being able to act the story out, it is a good story especially for kids with big

imaginations,” she said. “Mrs Couper reads out the story and we act along with it, and do what the elephants in the story do.”

Charley said she liked her elephant hat she wore during the event, and said it was good to see other students in the audience also wearing an elephant mask which they each individually decorated. 

In its 14th year, National Simultaneous Storytime is an important annual campaign aimed to encourage more young Australians to read and enjoy books. 

Mrs Couper said students had enjoyed taking part in National Simultaneous Storytime for a number of years.

“We’ve been taking part in it for around five or six years,” she said. “It is great to get the students involved and get them to help act out the story in front of others.”

She said the group of young performers did a wonderful job entertaining the crowd.