The Book Gang boys and student Librarians have been very proactive, promoting books, the enjoyment of reading and the benefits of a lively and comprehensive school Library.

The highlight of the term was our very successful “The Great Escape” Book Week. We celebrated our efforts with a well-deserved pizza lunch on the last day of term.

A new initiative the Librarians have, “adopted a shelf”, involves regularly checking to see that the books are in good condition, shelved accurately and displayed effectively. This is proving popular and the shelves are looking very tidy. Mrs Vercoe has been busy too, buying, cataloguing, covering and promoting new books. 

So far, this year 178 Fiction books and 182 Non-Fiction books have been added to the library collection. Many of the older, out of date, well used or underused books have been removed from the shelves, allowing space for the new books and ensuring that our collection is current and appealing. We have been fortunate to receive several generous donations of books from ex-students, current students, staff and the Hiram Lodge.

The number of classes using the library for reading and research is continuing to increase. The junior English classes have been visiting on a regular basis and 9Rb have borrowed the most books (367). 

We are enjoying the opportunities to share our reading experiences and recommending books to each other and it is great to see students actively engaging in reading the books they have chosen. The sports section continues to be very popular and Robert Muchamore, Jeff Kinney, James Patterson and John Flanagan are still topping the list of favourite authors. Neil Shusterman is also popular, along with John Marsden and Anthony Horowitz.

The senior English classes have been visiting more frequently to choose books for their personal reading responses. The Year 12's have borrowed the most books, overall (491) followed closely by the Year 11's (459).

The Social Sciences Department have also been making good use of the Non-Fiction books to research their topics this term. Year 9-Human Rights and Year 10-Conflict.

Several junior Science classes have been busy with some of the new resources on energy and space. The students have enjoyed using books for their learning, working collaboratively to find information and realising that there is an alternative to Google.

Overall, it has been a very productive and satisfying term and we are all looking forward to some relaxing holiday reading. 

Remember that you can access the Library collection from home by visiting the school website. You will find the Library portal under Cultural.

Happy Reading!