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Graeme Armstrong at Knightswood

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Last week we were thrilled to welcome Graeme Armstrong to Knightswood Secondary for the last author session of the Library Young Team SLIF project, which has been so important in engaging young people. This project was supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.

Graeme has been on the circuit for a while now, and even mentioned that Knightswood was his 100th session over the last year or so. His book, The Young Team, has been optioned for film and Graeme also wrote and presented a three-part documentary series, Street Gangs, which aired on the BBC last October.

His time with our pupils was powerful and deeply impactful, and several copies of his book have now been checked out from the School Library. Speaking from personal experience, Graeme took pupils through a chronology of his spiral into gang culture and drug addiction, and how he found the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. It was a brilliant session, with several pupils commenting after that it had changed their perspective on certain aspects of their lives.

 

The Library Young Team with Graeme Armstrong in Bannerman

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Bannerman High School is among 10 secondary schools across Glasgow City Council and Renfrewshire to take part in a project co-run with Renfrewshire School Libraries. The project is called “The Library Young Team” and it is supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.

For our third, and final, author visit for this project we welcomed acclaimed author Graeme Armstrong who delivered a thought-provoking and inspiring talk to all our S3 pupils, who left the workshop theater buzzing!

Graeme Armstrong spoke about his experiences of youth gangs when he was our pupils’ age, and how bleak life was during that time – as he recalls in his novel “The Young Team“. He thankfully climbed out of that downward spiral and now is using his life experience as an instrument to raise awareness of gang culture’s dangers, and to improve young people’s lives. Thank you Graeme!

This Project is supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.

Libraries LYT up lives: Graeme Armstrong @St Mungos

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The “Libraries LYT up lives” program concluded with a remarkable visit from writer Graeme Armstrong to our school library on April 22nd. Armstrong shared powerful firsthand stories about overcoming gang culture, highlighting the transformative power of literature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the presentation, students had the opportunity to engage directly with the writer and even borrow his book. Such was the demand that all copies of his books available in the library were swiftly taken, necessitating the creation of a waiting list. This clear demonstration of interest underscores the profound impact of his session on our S3 pupils.

They were captivated throughout, rating the event a resounding 10/10!

The Young Team Novel to Be Adapted By Synchronicity Films

 

St Roch’s Reads: April

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Autism Acceptance Week, Easter, Eid, exams – April is one busy month! Here’s what’s been happening in St Roch’s School Library. 

Pupil Reads: Steady for this by Nathanael Lessore 

This month some of our pupils have been reading through the Yoto Carnegie shortlist titles and sharing mini-reviews.  Here are Roya’s thoughts on Steady for this by Nathanael Lessore. Find out about the other shortlist books available in the school library here.

Q: Tell me about the book, but don’t give away the ending! 

The book is about a boy who wants to be a rapper and then a big twist happens. It is a book about racism and lifestyle. At first you might not like it but at the end it’s a nice and smooth going book.

Q: Tell me about your favourite part of the book 

When he meets a new friend who doesn’t know about his embarrassment and sticks with him till the end. 

Q: I recommend this book to anyone who likes.. 

A nice, easy going, romantic comedy. 

Q: What would you like to ask the author? 

What would you do if your mum exposed your dirty laundry to the world, live? ?

World Autism Acceptance Week 2-8th April 

Autism Acceptance Week is a yearly event planned around Autism Acceptance Day

It aims to help more people understand what autism is and how it can affect life for people. It also highlights and celebrate the achievements of autistic people past and present.  

Reading books is a brilliant way to develop understanding and share life experiences from many perspectives. Along with information books, there’s a great range of fiction books written by or about people with autism, available in the school library. You can get the full list on our library Padlet page here. 

Eid 

Earlier this month Muslim people around the world celebrated Eid, marking the end of Ramadan and 30 days of fasting. It is one of the biggest festivals in the Islamic calendar, celebrated with family, friends, food and prayer. We put together a collection of books by Muslim authors to mark Ramadan and Eid, which you can find on our Padlet page.

You can borrow any of these from the school library, just ask at the desk.  

Lucky Dip  

St Roch’s pupils have a great reading culture, with library visits and personal reading time built into English classes. Pupils regularly visit us regularly for new reading material, but sometimes they can find it hard to choose something. Our library assistant Ava had a great idea to help pupils who just can’t decide- a Lucky Dip book box!

How does it work?

We chose a range of different books we thought pupils would enjoy, non fiction, quick reads, comics and all types of fiction genres. Then Ava made up tickets with the book title and 3 word descriptions. Now pupils who are stuck can take a ticket from the box and bring it to the desk to get there lucky dip surprise read. It’s worked really well with our regular class visits. Well done Ava for a great idea! 

Keep calm and carry on-through-exams 

It’s exam time for our senior pupils! This time of year can be very stressful few weeks, so it’s extra important to take care of yourself and your mental health. There are lots of books that can help you manage stress/anxiety and find a little bit of calm. Check out some of these books on the Stress Less book display, available now in the school library. Well done to the library assistant team for putting this together.

Drawing with a difference at Lochend

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In April, we were very lucky to have a visit by the super talented artist and author Neil Slorance.  Neil had our pupils’ attention when he first came to the school as he has an impressive CV –including writing for the Doctor Who comic and publishing his own comic titles such as Dungeon Fun.  Here are some of the pupils paying full attention to Neil’s talk about his life as a comic artist and what inspires him.

By talking through his character making in terms of both drawing the characters and creating a story line the pupils were very keen to create their own characters.

Step by step drawing instructions as well as offering ideas for starting off stories helped produce some brilliant character drawings.

The pupils enjoyed making these characters so much that Neil was keen to guide them onto the next step – creating a short comic strip with their very own characters.   Again, after showing examples and talking about what a comic strip could contain, Neil helped our pupils create some amazing short comic ideas.   Look at these !   With such a great session, the pupils are enthused to keep creating and reading more at Lochend.

April @ Castlemilk Highschool

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What’s happening this month..

World Autism Acceptance Week: 2-8th April 

Autism Acceptance Week is a yearly event planned around Autism Acceptance Day. It aims to help more people understand autism and the experience of autism. It also highlights and celebrates the achievements of autistic people past and present.  

Reading books is a brilliant way to develop understanding and share life experiences from many perspectives. Along with information books, there’s a great range of fiction books written by or about people with autism, available in the school library. You can get the full list on our library Padlet page. Here’s a bit more about a few of our top picks from the list:

A kind of spark by Elle McNicoll  

Kind of Spark tells the story of 11-year-old Addie as she campaigns for a memorial in memory of the witch trials that took place in her Scottish hometown. Addie knows there’s more to the story of these ‘witches’, just like there is more to hers.

Can Addie challenge how the people in her town see her, and make her voice heard?  

Finding my voice by Aoife Dooley

Frankie is different, and so is her best-friend, Sam. So when they both start secondary school, it’s tough.

When she gets the chance to compete in a Battle of the Bands contest Frankie couldn’t be more excited. Except, to have a band, you need to have band members. And to have band members, you need to be good at making friends… Can Frankie learn to find her voice and stand out? 

Ways to be me by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott 

Tally had high hopes for Year 6.Being in the top class at school means a whole host of privileges, and even better than that is the school production But at home, things aren’t going so well. Mum and Dad have been making Tally feel pressured and upset. Sometimes she feels so misunderstood and frustrated, she could explode!  Then Tally’s mum and dad tell her about something she’s never heard about before. Something called autism. And everything changes. 

Exam Season  

 It’s a busy and stressful time for our senior pupils, as they begin their exams this month. It’s extra important to look after yourself and your mental health during these kinds of stressful times.

There are lots of books and ebooks available from the school library to help with managing stress, anxiety and finding a wee bit of calm in the chaos! Browse our ebook collection, ‘Young Minds – Mental Health and Wellbeing’,  in the Teen section of Overdrive and Libby.  

You can also download digital practice papers in lots of exam subjects. Browse the collection on Overdrive here or search for ‘SQA’ in Libby. 

Good luck to everyone starting exams next week!

New books 

Finally we’ve got lots of lovely new books in this month! There’s a great variety of genres so plenty to choose from. Here’s a few of the highlights we think will be first off the shelves.  

Romance 

Boy like me / by Simon James Green

Cuts both ways / by Candice Brathwaite

A British girl’s guide to hurricanes and heartbreak / by Laura Taylor Namey

 

 

 

Fantasy 

Tyger / by S. F. Said & Dave McKean

The kingdom over the sea /  by  Zohra  Nabi & Tom Clohosy Cole

The ivory key / by Akshaya Raman

 

 

Spooky 

Most haunted theatres / by Yvette  Fielding & Hannah Shaw

Jodie / by Hilary McKay & Keith Robinson

Wise creatures / by Deirdre Sullivan

 

Book Group @Holyrood Secondary

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Logo by Hunnah & Fabia

‘Chapter Chats’ is our new pupil-led, super friendly Book Group for anyone who loves reading. Started by Fabia and Hunnah in S3, we meet in the Library after school on Mondays. Drop in for a quick and friendly book chat. Our meetings last for about 15 mins. ….. perfect if you’re rushing home to do your homework or make the dinner. Everyone is welcome, both young people and staff.

 

Some of the books we’ve been chatting about :

What I’m reading ……

‘Yellowface’ by R. F. Huang – an unusual and gripping plot line about a young author who will stop at nothing to succeed. Themes include cultural appropriation, addiction to social media, plagiarism and becoming so lost in a lie you even start to convince yourself!

Just discovered our young people are reading Rebecca Huang too:)

Sharing books at Chapter Chat group

Other events

We had great fun with Design a Book Token competition for World Book Day. These designs by Maha and Victoria won joint 1st prize for S1. All entries have also been sent away to the national competition. Well done everyone, fantastic work.

Special thanks to our brilliant S6 Khola, Claire & Fahima who decorated the display board,  and presented prizes to all the winners at our lunchtime celebration. (Fahima is just out of photo as she’s chatting with and encouraging our S1 pupils).

S6 Guest helpers

A fond farewell to all our S6. Their contribution to library events, book groups, paired reading, artwork, general fun, kindness and laughter has been much valued. Exciting times ahead !

“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” – Paulo Coelho

Library Closure for Exams

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Just a quick update this month to let you all know the library will be shut for the duration of SQA exams. Fortunately, we will be able to accommodate class visits during your usual library period, but all clubs and other activities have been put on hold for now.

person writing on brown wooden table near white ceramic mug

Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash

Don’t worry; everything will be back to normal before you know it — maybe even better than before!

Finally, if you’re sitting exams yourself, you might want to check out our Exam Skills Study Guide from December. Good luck & see you soon!

Grand Library Reopening!

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Hi, everyone! Very pleased to announce that the library has now reopened following our closure in February. We have lots of new books for you to check out, as you can see from our latest display…

… As well as all your old favourites just waiting to be rediscovered! So pop in and say hi — just keep in mind the SQA exams.

New library “well being corner”

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The back of St Mungo’s library is a quiet study area.

Recently, a health and well being corner was added for pupils to colour, play chess, or complete a jigsaw puzzle. This relaxation space, available during stressful times like exam periods, is known as the Well Being corner. It features comfortable seating and a “mindful table” with activities such as a giant mindful colouring sheet with pencils, crossword books, word search books, and a jigsaw puzzle.

To boost pupils’ concentration, heighten awareness, broaden memory, and foster teamwork, the library offers a giant Sudoku. To assist pupils in expanding their vocabulary and improving word spelling, the library provides a Boggle game for everyone’s enjoyment.

Additionally, the library maintains a current “shelf help” collection, offering books on a wide range of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and life pressures like bullying and exams.