Netballer Anna delivers message about reading

CHILDREN at Morningside School in Whangarei got a very special gift on Friday when New Zealand netball personality Anna Stanley (nee Rowberry) presented them with books at their Duffy Assembly.
The assembly was the first of five assemblies Mrs Stanley will be attending in the Whangarei district, as a Duffy Role Model.
Mrs Stanley, who captained the Silver Ferns to a World Cup win in 2003, is living in the city for a year with her former All Black husband Jeremy Stanley. He is now a surgeon.
The Duffy Books in Homes project gives children in low-decile schools new books to take home to encourage reading and literacy.
Mrs Stanley told the children of the importance of reading every day, whether it was a favourite book or even just a letter, to achieve success.
She said she read to her 18-month-old daughter Jaya every day, whose current favourite books were the Spot the Dog series.
Mrs Stanley is presenting the ANZ Netball transtasman championships that started on Saturday and she told the children the auto-cue she used in presenting meant reading skills needed to be up to scratch.
She then presented a book to two children in each of eight classes.
After the assembly, every child in the school was given two books to take home by teachers. Mrs Stanley visited one classroom of year five and six children to hand out books to the rest of the class and sign autographs - much to the delight of the girls in the room.
"We've had a run on rugby players visiting the school for a while, so the girls are really excited we have a netballer," teacher Gina Gatman said.
• More Duffy Role Model assemblies will be held with Anna Stanley at Te Horo School on April 10, Te Kura o Otangarei on April 11, and Totara Grove School and Hora Hora School on April 17.
• The Books in Homes Programme was inspired by Alan Duff who, with the help of Christine Fernyhough, developed the idea after realising that failures in adult life often stem from childhoods spent in bookless homes. The philosophy is that children who can't read become adults who can't communicate.
• Lower-decile schools are chosen to receive Duffy Books as these are children less likely to have books, especially new ones, at home.
• Most children in Duffy schools receive five books a year, and twice-yearly special role model assemblies are held when sportspeople, writers, presenters and other celebrities visit to present the books and talk about the importance of reading.