With January comes the opportunity for a clean slate. Whether you’ve made up your New Year’s resolutions or not, it’s a great time to focus on an often-overlooked aspect of our health: mental wellbeing.
To support pupils in looking after their mental health and wellness, the library hosted a workshop collating students’ best advice and tips, alongside some book recommendations from the Shelf Help section.
You can see their wonderful ideas and recommendations on posters across the library!
As we bid farewell to the past year and step into a new one, January heralds a season of fresh starts and new beginnings. While many of us set resolutions related to physical health and personal achievements, it’s crucial not to overlook the significance of mental health and wellbeing in this journey of self-improvement.
January, with its symbolic transition into a new calendar year, serves as a powerful reminder to prioritise our mental health. The pressures of modern life, coupled with the challenges brought on by the global pandemic, have underscored the importance of maintaining a resilient and balanced mind.
Taking care of our mental wellbeing is not just a trend or a passing phase—it’s a lifelong commitment to living a fulfilling and meaningful existence. Whether you’re struggling with a particular mental health concern, or looking for ways to improve your emotional intelligence and adaptability, read on for some recommendations from our Shelf Help section.
Wired Differently by Joe Wells
This illustrated portrait collection honours 30 influential neurodivergent individuals for their recent remarkable achievements. The book’s extraordinary stories emphasise that their accomplishments, creations, and inspiration stem not despite their differences but because of them. Encompassing politicians, activists, journalists, YouTubers, DJs, and poets, it showcases diverse career paths, offering neurodivergent readers a spectrum of exciting possibilities.
How to Say No by Michelle Elman
Empower yourself by saying NO to demanding friends, unwanted parties, phone distractions, and unwelcome hugs. This essential guide, suitable for readers aged 9+, navigates the challenges of growing up with humour and insight. Authored by Michelle Elman, a life coach and activist, it teaches the strength, confidence, and self-worth that come with setting boundaries. From friendships to phones and family, this playful and empowering book offers a one-stop guide to creating your life’s rules and knowing when it’s okay to say NO!
Failosophy for Teens by Elizabeth Day
A guide for navigating life’s challenges, “Failosophy For Teens” by Elizabeth Day uses personal experiences and stories from her podcast, “How to Fail,” to empower teens facing setbacks. Embracing failure becomes the key to happiness, success, and self-acceptance. Learn to openly discuss failure, turn it into success, build resilience, and reframe negative thoughts. Failing better leads to growth, learning, and embracing your awesome self. This inspiring handbook will transform your self-perception and life.
Fighting Invisible Tigers by Earl Hipp
“Fighting Invisible Tigers” provides teens with practical advice on stress management, anxiety reduction, and digital well-being. Stress among adolescents is a growing concern, impacting their daily lives. This updated guide teaches proven techniques for handling stressors like school, friendships, and social media. It offers valuable insights on decision-making, assertiveness, relaxation exercises, time management, and more. Empowering teens to control their stress response promotes healthier relationships, better decisions, and enhanced well-being.
A Better Day by Dr Alex George
Discover a positive approach to mental health with Youth Mental Health Ambassador Dr. Alex George’s empowering handbook, “A Better Day.” Addressing challenges like peer pressure, exam stress, and online trolls, this practical toolkit guides young readers in caring for their mental health. From overcoming stigma to developing resilience, the book provides scaffolding and techniques to stay optimistic. With insights on talking about feelings and shifting mindset, it offers hope for a brighter future despite life’s ups and downs.
As we embrace the spirit of new beginnings this January, let’s not overlook the importance of mental health. By recognising the interconnectedness of mind and body, we can lay the foundation for a year filled with personal growth, resilience, and overall wellbeing. Remember, taking care of your mental health is not just a resolution—it’s a commitment to a healthier, happier you.
We love having visitors to the School Library. In December, we welcomed poet Tawona Sithole who led a creative writing workshop for S1/S2, involving music, games, drama- with some amazing acting skills on show, and writing our own stories. 
Our young writers were very inspired, and supported each other by listening attentively as each group read their story out to the audience. Everyone had a great time, and we hope to see Tawona for another visit sometime soon.
This event was supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.
We continue to enjoy our Writing for Fun lunchtime club. Our new theme for January is poetry and we hope to write some poems about ‘things that make us happy’.
This week, Fiona Haddow from the Mitchell Library visited us to lead a Focus Group. We looked through a selection of books she had brought, and chatted about which authors we would most like to meet. Our young people felt very honoured to have this chance, as Fiona will use these opinions to help shape the programme for the ‘Wee Write’ Book Festival. This is a brilliant celebration of reading, where Glasgow Libraries brings authors directly into schools, and also holds events, including Family days, at the Mitchell Library.
Well done to our S2/S3 Focus Group. We really enjoyed speaking to Fiona, hearing about Wee Write, and everyone loved their thank you gifts of books.
Just because it will never look this immaculate again – luckily so, as the librarian is looking forward to seeing the expressions of joy and surprise on the faces of our keen manga readers as they borrow all these newly-arrived books! These here are just some of our most requested titles, but there is plenty more to explore in the library: Naruto, One Piece, Komi Can’t Communicate and many many more!
Manga club in Bannerman is always in full swing and we keep coming up with new activities and games. Here are some of them:
Finally, many new books have arrived to the school library in Smithycroft! The most recent order was aimed at fleshing out our 🤣 Comedy 😂 and 🐴 Animals=Pals 🐶 sections, however there were also a few new releases and pupils’ requests which are mostly pictured in the selection below.
Happy reading!!
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 (5th-11th).
March: We will organize some fun activities as part of World Book Day week (4th-8th), including a quiz and a 5-word Book Review competition. As part of Shakespeare Week (18th-24th) 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 (8th), Ramadan (starting 10th), British Science Week (8th-17th), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (18th-24th), Anti-Racism Day (21st) and International Transgender Visibility Day (31st).
April: For World Book Night (23rd), 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 (27th) and a fun activity to celebrate Talk Like Shakespeare Day (23rd). We will also share booklists for Stress Awareness Month, World Autism Day (2nd), and Earth Day (22nd).
May: We will host a quiet reading hour during lunch as part of Mental Health Awareness Week (13th-19th) 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 (4th) and an Edgar Allan Poe or YA quiz for World Goth Day (22nd). 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 (6th) celebrations. The library will host a Reading Picnic as part of National Picnic Week (17th-25th). We will also share booklists for Audiobook Month, National Crime Reading Month, Pride Month, Refugee Week (17th-25th),
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.
We have some exciting events and activities lined up this year at Shawlands Academy.
February: A special drop-in surgery from our newly elected MSYP from LGBT Youth Scotland during LGBT+ History Month. We will announce the winning design from our School Library Mascot Design competition voted by pupils. We will also share booklists for LGBT History Month and Children’s Mental Health Week (5th-11th).
March: We will organize some fun activities as part of World Book Day week (4th-8th), including a quiz, a 5-word Book Review competition, and a Bookmark Design Competition. The winning design will be the official School Library bookmark for 2024. As part of Shakespeare Week (18th-24th) 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 (8th), Ramadan (starting 10th), British Science Week (8th-17th), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (18th-24th), Anti-Racism Day (21st) and International Transgender Visibility Day (31st).
April: For World Book Night (23rd), 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 (27th) and a fun activity to celebrate Talk Like Shakespeare Day (23rd). We will also share booklists for Stress Awareness Month, World Autism Day (2nd), and Earth Day (22nd).
May: During the exam period, the School Librarian will visit all S1-3 classes to give pupils a list of books on loan as part of a major drive to return stock. We will also host a an Edgar Allan Poe or YA quiz for World Goth Day (22nd) and an accompanying booklist.
June: We will show some livestream author events as part of the annual Empathy Day (6th) celebrations. The library will host a Reading Picnic as part of National Picnic Week (17th-25th). We will also share booklists for Audiobook Month, National Crime Reading Month, Pride Month, Refugee Week (17th-25th), Windrush Day (22nd), and South Asian Heritage Month (17th July – 17th August).
We start the new year waiting for many new exciting book releases and books that have created a buzz, among which: “Impossible Creatures” by Katherine Rundell, winner of Waterstones Book of the Year 2023; the long-awaited 5th volume of “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman, sure to be constantly on loan; and “Treacle Town” by Brian Conaghan. We will be honoured to host Brian Conaghan for a session here at Bannerman soon as part of ‘The Library Young Team,’ a SLIF-funded project by Glasgow School Libraries & Renfrewshire School Libraries. This project focuses on the theme of gang culture and will also see Alan Bissett and Graeme Armstrong visiting Bannerman High for a session with our pupils.
As for the non-fiction focus of the month for the school library newsletter, Ms Bortolato has been thinking about travelling away from the darkness of January (and yes it’s only the 4th of January now, what about it?) and planning a new adventures as an antidote to the winter blues. Eager to share adventure ideas, she quickly realised that there is already too much planning to do in a school, so let it suffice that we might just enjoy a bit of bookish wanderlust within the pages of these suggested readings…
See, the school library provides you with extremely cheap travel opportunities so make sure you go to the libraryscanner(.com*) for the best bargains.
* Website doesn’t actually exist
At Bannerman, we have a new welcoming display outside the library – a book recommendations wall! Pupils can pick up a recommendation slip from the library during their reading period, and when they have finished their book they can write a short review of it. This gives us a chance to showcase the range of books our young readers choose, as well as inspire other pupils take up their peers’ suggestion, and elaborate their thoughts on what they read thus becoming a bit more critical readers.
Ms Bortolato has also started a staff newsletter which will be monthly, with the aim of making school staff aware of what’s new in the wonderful world of children’s literature – plus a different curricular focus each month. This month, we shone a light on the library’s extensive music collection! What will be the next one…?
It may have taken us a while but it was well worth the wait…
2023 has been a huge year as the Library refurbishment was finally completed!
We now have brand new comfy furniture, shiny new shelves, awesome artwork and stunning signage.
Mr Wason is particularly chuffed with his smart new desk.
Feedback from young people and staff has been fantastic; especially for our showpiece Southside Mural. We asked the talented designers for a Glasgow skyline with bright bold colours and a focus on the Southside of the city. The end result incorporates Hampden Park, Pollok House, Bellahouston Park and a view towards the city, featuring famous landmarks like the Finnieston Crane and Squinty Bridge.
It’s been a pleasure seeing the reaction from classes as the refurbishment has taken shape. We can’t wait for everyone to continue enjoying the new Hillpark Library in 2024.
A special thank you to everyone from The Design Concept for all your help and advice.
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