At 6am on the 20th of September, five Year 9 students and Mrs Shipley, the school Librarian, travelled from Blenheim to Auckland for the final of the National Readers Cup Competition!

Our team studied hard, reading six books for the regional competition in Term 2 and another six for the final. The flight was silent as all competitors made the most of the time for some last minute reading! We enjoyed lunch in the boarders' dining room at Dilworth School before heading to the hall.

The competition was tough and the questions were very hard. Our courageous team came fifth but was only 4.5 points behind the winners - Carmel College.

This experience is something that I will treasure forever. It was such a privilege to be able to travel to Nelson and Auckland and have the opportunity to meet some fantastic people. We studied the books hard and spent many lunchtimes revising questions. It was all worth it in the end - I will never forget our excited and astounded faces when we won the regionals. I couldn't have had a better group of people to share the experience with.