Hello! I’m Miss DeLeavey, the new School Librarian for Whitehill Secondary School. In this blog, I will post monthly roundups of the events and activities that took place in the School Library.

Some plans for this year include:

February: We will recruit a Pupil Library Committee with the help of the library volunteers to ensure the service is led by and for young people. We will also circulate a BGE survey to inform our stock selection and plan the activities that our pupils will engage in. We will also share booklists for LGBT History Month and Children’s Mental Health Week (5^th-11^th).

March: We will organize some fun activities as part of World Book Day week (4^th-8^th), including a quiz and a 5-word Book Review competition. As part of Shakespeare Week (18^th-24^th) we’ll post an interactive choice board linked to information about Shakespeare and his works. We’ll also host a lunchtime Shakespeare or YA quiz where participants will guess whether the quote is from one of Shakespeare’s works or a popular YA novel. We will also share booklists for International Women’s Day (8^th), Ramadan (starting 10^th), British Science Week (8^th-17^th), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (18^th-24^th), Anti-Racism Day (21^st) and International Transgender Visibility Day (31^st).

April: For World Book Night (23^rd), we will host a special ‘Biblio Bistro’ during lunchtime where pupils can ‘sample’ a variety of books from our book menu. We will host a 50-word short story competition to tie in with National Tell a Story Day (27^th) and a fun activity to celebrate Talk Like Shakespeare Day (23^rd). We will also share booklists for Stress Awareness Month, World Autism Day (2^nd), and Earth Day (22^nd).

May: We will host a quiet reading hour during lunch as part of Mental Health Awareness Week (13^th-19^th) and Keep the Heid and Read, a celebration of reading across libraries in Scotland to take the pledge to read for just 6 minutes. We will also host a Star Wars-themed quiz as part of Star Wars Day (4^th) and an Edgar Allan Poe or YA quiz for World Goth Day (22^nd). We will also share booklists for International YA Literature Month, and World Goth Day.

June: We will show some livestream author events as part of the annual Empathy Day (6^th) celebrations. The library will host a Reading Picnic as part of National Picnic Week (17^th-25^th). We will also share booklists for Audiobook Month, National Crime Reading Month, Pride Month, Refugee Week (17^th-25^th),

We’ve curated several themed booklists that have been uploaded to our Library Channel in Teams for pupils looking for reading recommendations. We will add new ones throughout the year to tie in with various literacy and cultural events, with input from our young people. The lists have a wide range of titles for Junior, Young Adult, and Senior and Adult fiction and nonfiction. Access the booklists on the Glasgow School Libraries Book Lists article on our blog.