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Poetry Workshop With Charles Lang

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In March we had a visit from the Belfast-based Glaswegian poet Charles Lang. The S1 and S2 classes who took part in the workshops  with Charles had a great time composing their own poems based on the theme of ‘home’.  See below for Kaspian’s fantastic effort.

Fireplace Encouragement  

by Kaspian Mazerski S1 All Saints Secondary  

Sitting by the fireplace 

So warm and so very bright. 

Every time it crackles, 

It gives me a fright. 

My dog sleeping near in a curled position,  

Watching my brother run along the carpet,  

Making fiction. 

 

“I love my family” I say, 

Eating bread 

I should get ahead, and be early to bed,  

Fall asleep quick…laying in bed 

Hearing a tick, 

The clock going off, 

The day is over. 

No need to scoff, 

There is always tomorrow 

Go get that book you wanted to borrow, 

Go, do the thing you wanted to do. 

Don’t imagine. 

It’s all up to you. 

 

April in St Roch’s

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Spring is in full swing this month and Glasgow schools have been busy bees. We started a new term, said goodbye to some senior pupils and this week we kicked off exam season. Well done to everyone for all the studying and best of luck!  

There was also lots of  things happening in the UK and beyond for St Roch’s library to join in. 

World Autism Acceptance Week: 28 March – 3 April 2022 

April 2nd was World Autism Awareness Day, but did you know the whole of April is World Autism Month?

Books are a great way to raise awareness and help us to understand each other-so we’ve listed some books about or by people with autism that are available from the school library.

You’ll find some on display in school and on the Libby by Overdrive app.

World Book Night: 23 April

Work Book Night is run by The Reading Agency and brings people from all backgrounds together for one reason – to inspire others to read more. You can do anything you want related to books: read alone, read with or to someone, or even call a friend to chat about books and share recommendations.  

There are lots of great book suggestions listed this year with previous lists also available  on their website. We collected some of the recommended books for a display in the library, to help students choose something new to read. 

Keep the heid and read! 

To celebrate the power of reading, libraries and good mental health, people are being asked to pledge SIX minutes on Wednesday 11th May 2022 and devote it to reading. 

Why? Because taking some time for yourself to relax and do things you enjoy like reading is important to help look after your mental health and wellbeing. 

Students in St Roch’s have signed up this month with their English class and will visit the library to join in the 6-minute-read on May 11th. We’re really looking forward to it!  

It’s simple to pledge on the Keep the Heid website, and you can enter a prize draw for £100 book token. Young Scot card holders can also earn reward points for pledging! Take the pledge now and see how many minutes people all over Scotland will be reading for on 11th May 2022. 

Wee Write Festival: Metaphrog 

Lastly, the Wee Write book festival for children and young people runs this year from 25th –30th April. This year’s  Wee Write Family Day is on Saturday 30 April and is jam-packed with exciting authors, illustrators and much more. Visit the Glasgow Life website to see what’s on. 

As part of the Wee Write programme for schools, award-winning graphic novelists Metaphrog will be visiting St Roch’s this month. Their latest graphic novels are fairy tale adaptations including The Red Shoes and Other Tales, The Little Mermaid and Bluebeard: A Feminist Fairy Tale, all published by Papercutz.  Sandra and John will be sharing their creative process and the secrets of making comics in what promises to be a very fun session- we can’t wait!!

S.M Wilson meets St Mungo’s S1 pupils

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As the part of the “Wee write festival” St Mungo’s library had the chance to receive the author S.M Wilson. She writes romance and young adult fiction.

During this very interactive session, the author talked about her books as well as her love for dinosaurs and space.

S1 pupils especially discovered the inspiration behind S. M. Wilson’s The Extinction Trials and The Infinity Files series and tested their knowledge on all
things dinosaur and space, followed by Q&A.

The library helpers, Helena, Julia and Jack even interviewed her for the monthly Glasgow School libraries eMagazine!

Holyrood Library, Spring Update

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Welcome to the Library blog for March and April !

Our Rights Respecting School book display showcases books on diversity, inclusion and well-being. This display was organised by one of our S6 Volunteers, who has also worked on cataloguing hundreds of books this year, a great example of our Pupil Voice and Caritas volunteering in action, thank you.

 

World Book Day : our S1 ‘Design a Book Token’ competition was a great success. The entries were superb, showing both a love of reading and excellent design skills. Our prize-winners enjoyed a lunchtime celebration. Special thanks to Head Girl, Maryam for presenting prizes and giving an inspiring speech to S1.

Our S3 lunchtime readers have been busy creating beautiful art, including flowers and bees to decorate our Science week Display, and bookmarks for Miss Melville’s wonderful Coffee Morning for Ukraine

 

We love sharing book reviews and recommendations

We even get replies from fantastic authors! “I’m so happy that Boy 87 was your book of the day. Thank you S1 helpers!”, Ele Fountain, author of Boy 87

Here is the Numeracy Wall created by Miss Blackburn’s Sumdog Club. We look forward to holding more numeracy activities in the library throughout the year.

Our S6 contribution to the library has been immense. Their helpfulness and enthusiasm, has made the library a joyful place. Thank you S6 for the Book-Tok idea, now under-way. I will continue to add new titles. Special thanks to Aaminah.

     

Our S6 held an amazing Culture Day in the Assembly Hall. Seeing the joy and pride in our wonderful, diverse Holyrood community has inspired me to look out for more diverse books by indigenous authors in future.

Some S1 recommendations showing different cultures, (these are set in Nigeria, and the Himalayas).

Thanks also to S6 for completing the online Library Survey, all your helpful suggestions will go towards making improvements for the coming year.

This lovely manga style drawing, (by Kieran and Demi), sums up our ethos  – Everyone is WELCOME in this Library, so please DO look in and say hello next time you are passing. A warm welcome awaits.

 

 

JPA Library – March Update

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In the final push to the Easter Break, March has been a busy and exciting month, filled with fun activities from start to finish – enjoy!

World Book Day

The month started off with our World Book Day activities!  All our pupils were given their £1 book tokens to spend on free World Book Day books, but pupils also had the chance to win these books in our competitions and games for World Book Day!  Pupils were invited to write 50-word short stories on the theme of ‘World’, and came along to our annual WBD Mystery Game in the library!

This year, while doing its World Tour for World Book Day, the Best Book in the World was stolen!  The thief hid clues in books around the library that pupils had to find and solve to discover where the book had been taken.  The pupils transformed into detectives and were immediately on the case!  In one lunch break, pupils were able to find all the clues, solve all the puzzles, and discover that the Best Book in the World had been taken to Peru!  Everyone who took part received a free World Book Day book!

Our Clubs:

Find out what our clubs got up to this month:

Comic Club

We’ve been practicing our comic skills this month with some Quick Comic sessions.  Pupils needed to draw in under 2 minutes a randomly generated character and scene.  Highlights include the confused robots in ballgowns in a castle, happy alien clowns at bus stops, and angry people in library (the most unrealistic IMO).

EAL Book Club

We have started drafting our Cinderella stories!  I don’t want to give away any spoilers, because the group is very excited about their stories and keeping them private for now (they may have taken their jotters home over the Easter break to keep working/so I can’t take a peek) but there has been discussion of gender-swapping, murder mysteries, and stories of revenge!

RPG Club

Let the games begin!  Our pupils have started playing a Dungeons and Dragons style campaign called A Battle of Bookwyrms (I may have created a book themed game – this is a library club after all!).  Their characters were sent invitations to an unknown place, and under the promise of adventure and riches, they all chose to go, meeting for the first time.  However, when they arrived at their destination, they were led into an arena and ambushed!  The brave party were able to fight their way out and have now been offered a job.  What job could it be?  Find out next month!

Our Volunteers

Our volunteers have continued working hard to make the library a great space for everyone.  Staff and pupils have responded well to their great Genre displays made this month, one for Romance and one for Mystery books, our most popular genres!  There’s a big project on the horizon for our volunteers after the holidays, and I’m thrilled with how they have helped to make the library such a fun and exciting space within our school!

Easter Egg Hunt

[I know this one technically happened in April but it’s too fun to leave until next month!]

Our library mascot Bellamy was joined by a couple of mischievous chicks on the last day of school, who then hid Easter Eggs all through the library!  Our pupils then got to enjoy an Easter Egg Hunt and the sweet chocolatey taste of success after!  A very fun note on which to end the term!

To see everything that April has to offer, check out the latest edition of our newsletter – Bookmarked!

March 2022 Roundup – St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School Library

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World Book Day Week: This year, World Book Day was celebrated on Thursday, March 3rd and the School Library delivered a plethora of fun, bookish activities throughout the week. Our World Book Day programme included the following activities, where participants were entered into a prize draw for a £10 National Book Token:

  • World Book Day Quiz: A book-themed quiz was delivered during both lunch periods in the School Library for St Margaret Mary’s pupils and in class time for St Oswald’s pupils. All participants were entered into the prize draw and those with the highest points received three entries into the draw. 
  • Bookopoly: Pupils are given a Bookopoly board. They can choose to read two fiction books per genre, one nonfiction book per subject, and/or three ‘chances’ where they can either select a ‘reading dare’ or spin the Wheel of Genre. The completion of each genre/subject/chance grants them an entry into the monthly school library prize draw. Pupils can also earn a certificate for completing the entire board.  
  • Ask Me What I’m Reading: The winning designs from our Ask Me What I’m Reading design competition were circulated alongside a sheet where pupils must ask five people what they’re reading. This is to encourage pupils and staff to have a conversation about books and promoting literature via word of mouth. Submitted forms grants one entry into the monthly school library prize draw. 

Pupil Library Committee:  Our PLC members were very busy this month with various activities: 

  • Pop-Up Library: Members of our Pupil Library Committee volunteered to host a pop-up library stall in the Fuel Zone during lunches throughout World Book Day week. Members promoted the variety of World Book Day activities and reading challenges as well as selected books to display and promote for borrowing. This initiative was so successful that we’re planning on hosting other Pop-Up Libraries in the future.  
  • Bag A Book: Pupil Library Committee members have been helping the School Librarian for weeks to prepare withdrawn stock for our popular Bag A Book giveaway before the Spring break, held Tuesday and Thursday during lunches.

World Poetry Day Quiz: Pupils and staff were invited to participate in a quiz of Teams, inspired by the Librarian @GrammarLRC. Can you guess whether the passage is a lyric or a title?  

Library Publications: Swatch Spring 22 

   March Booklists 

March 22 Booklists – Book Trust 

Best New Children’s Books – Toppsta  

Bookbug’s Books of the Month – Scottish Book Trust 

Books of the Month – LoveReading4Kids 

March Roundup – Love Reading 

Book of the Month – Scholastic  

Books of the Month – Waterstones  

Children’s Book Roundup – Guardian  

 

Upcoming Events (April) 

BigDog Book Festival (Wigtown, Scotland, 1st – 3rd)  

Cúirt International Festival of Literature (Galway, Ireland, 4th – 10th)  

Southside Fringe (Glasgow, Scotland) 

Wee Write Festival (Glasgow, Scotland) 

Cambridge Literary Festival (Cambridge, England, 20th – 24th)  

Soutar Festival of Words (Perth, Scotland, 22nd – 24th) 

World Book Night (UK & International, 23rd) 

McLellan Arts Festival Poetry Fringe (Arran, Scotland, 28th)  

Colonsay Book Festival (Colonsay, Scotland 30th)  

Bocas Lit Fest (Caribbean, 30th – 2nd May) 

 

Past Events (March) 

International Women’s Day (8th ) & Women’s History Month 

British Science Week (11-20 ) 

Neurodiversity Celebration Week (21st – 27th )  

Jaipur Lit Fest 

 

Literary Awards & Prizes  

Winners 

Audie Awards 

Blue Peter Book Awards 

OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature  

Rathebones Folio Prize 

Royal Society Children’s Book Prize 

Shortlists 

British Book Awards 

Tir na n-Og 

UKLA 

YOTO Carnegie Medal  

YOTO Kate Greenaway Medal 

Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize

Longlists  

International Booker Prize 

Jhalak Prize 

Women’s Prize 

 

In the news:  

A Field Guide to Strange Medieval Monsters – Open Culture 

Beyond the fog of war: Books to help us understand the invasion of Ukraine – Guardian 

Free Colouring Books from the Public Domain Review – Open Culture  

Outrage as LGBT author banned at state school – Politics.co.uk 

The Reading Agency partners with the British Science Museum on this year’s Summer Reading Challenge Theme – The Reading Agency  

 

March 2022 Roundup – Shawlands Academy School Library

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World Book Day Week: This year, World Book Day was celebrated on Thursday, March 3rd and the School Library delivered a plethora of fun, bookish activities throughout the week. We published the results from our #ReadingSchools Library Survey and Book Personality Quiz that took place over January/February. The full report was uploaded to the Library channel on Teams, but an abridged version can be found here.  

Our World Book Day programme included the following activities, where participants were entered into a prize draw for a £20 National Book Token:  

  • Bookshelf Challenge: Pupils were invited to guess the teacher based on a clue and a picture a staff member’s bookshelf. The activity was uploaded to the Library Channels on each year group’s Teams and all participants were entered into the WBD prize draw 
  • Scavenger Hunt: Pupils had to guess the teacher and find which book they were reading which was displayed on a #ReadingSchools poster. Those who submitted completed forms were entered into the WBD prize draw.  
  • World Book Day Quiz: A book-themed quiz was delivered during both lunch periods in the School Library. All participants were entered into the WBD prize draw and those with the highest points received three entries into the draw.  

In addition to the World Book Day activities, the school library also launched reading challenges and competitions. These included: 

  • Bookopoly: Pupils are given a Bookopoly board. They can choose to read two fiction books per genre, one nonfiction book per subject, and/or three ‘chances’ where they can either select a ‘reading dare’ or spin the Wheel of Genre. The completion of each genre/subject/chance grants them an entry into the monthly school library prize draw. Pupils can also earn a certificate for completing the entire board.  
  • Ask Me What I’m Reading: The winning designs from our Ask Me What I’m Reading design competition were circulated alongside a sheet where pupils must ask five people what they’re reading. This is to encourage pupils and staff to have a conversation about books and promoting literature via word of mouth. Submitted forms grants one entry into the monthly school library prize draw. 
  • Reader of the Week: We’ve also launched a Reader of the Week initiative where pupils can complete either a #ReadingSchools shelf shouter to be displayed on the bookshelves (think Waterstones) or a book review template to be displayed on either the Reader Recommendations bulletin board, the monthly newsletter or Swatch magazine. Each submissions earns an entry into the school library monthly prize draw and pupils who submit the most reviews per week earn a Reader of the Week certificate and ribbon. 
  • Short Story competition: The Short Story competition is the brainchild of two pupils (S2 + S6) who are members of our Pupil Library Committee, both of whom are part of the judging panel. We received fourteen-short stories across all yer groups. The pupil judges divided the stories into 2 groups, BGE and S4-Senior. Within those groups, they judged each story based on a set of criteria based on various short story competitions we researched around the Web. The winners for each category are as follows:
  • BGE Stories:Top score: Mother

    Top Mechanics: The beginning of the rest of my life 

    Top Expression: Untiled

    Characterisation: Queen of all creatures

    Plot: A true love between sisters 

    Theme: Your melody flowing me away 

    Attention Grabbing Opening: A wonderful place called Cat 

    Passion: Corruption 

    Originality: Amanda sparks a woeful saga of pain 

    Short Story S4-Senior winners:

    Top score: Faithful Truth 

    Top Mechanics: Timeless Book Chronicles 

    Top Expression: Reminiscent Hours 

  • Fantasy Football competition: This is a fun literacy-based activity aimed at football fans and reluctant/struggling readers. Pupils are given a sheet to complete their own fantasy football team (based on real players, past or present) and instructed to give the reasons why they’ve been selected. This activity has also been promoted in Physical Education department. Each submission earns an entry into the prize draw for a copy of Ultimate Football Heroes: Sancho, signed by the author Matt Oldfield.    

Pupil Library Committee:  Our PLC members were very busy this month with various activities: 

  • Pop-Up Library: Members of our 50+ strong Pupil Library Committee volunteered to host a pop-up library stall in the Fuel Zone during lunches throughout World Book Day week. Members promoted the variety of World Book Day activities and reading challenges as well as selected books to display and promote for borrowing. This initiative was so successful that we’re planning on hosting other Pop-Up Libraries in the future.  
  • March Display: This month’s pupil curated display included highlights for International Women’s Day (March 8th), The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21st), World Poetry Day (March 21st) and Transgender Visibility Day (March31st).  
  • Spring Break Quiz: Two of our S3 PLC members researched and help compile a list of questions for our Spring Break Quiz, which included questions about the many faith-based and cultural festivals that take place during Spring as well as some book-based questions on book awards, upcoming book-to-film series, literary dates and author birthdays.  

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: In preparation for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (aka Anti-Racism Day), over 30 pupils from S1-6 were invited to select fiction and nonfiction books with anti-racism themes. Their suggestions will help inform the expansion of our ‘Equality and Empowerment’ section for next year as well as for the eBooks available on the Glasgow Libraries’ Libby app, thus ensuring a pupil voice is represented in the selection. See the full list here 

World Poetry Day Quiz: Pupils and staff were invited to participate in a quiz of Teams, inspired by the Librarian @GrammarLRC. Can you guess whether the passage is a lyric or a title?  

Library Publications: Swatch Spring 22 

 

March Booklists 

March 22 Booklists – Book Trust 

Best New Children’s Books – Toppsta  

Bookbug’s Books of the Month – Scottish Book Trust 

Books of the Month – LoveReading4Kids 

March Roundup – Love Reading 

Book of the Month – Scholastic  

Books of the Month – Waterstones  

Children’s Book Roundup – Guardian  

 

Upcoming Events (April) 

BigDog Book Festival (Wigtown, Scotland, 1st – 3rd)  

Cúirt International Festival of Literature (Galway, Ireland, 4th – 10th)  

Southside Fringe (Glasgow, Scotland) 

Wee Write Festival (Glasgow, Scotland) 

Cambridge Literary Festival (Cambridge, England, 20th – 24th)  

Soutar Festival of Words (Perth, Scotland, 22nd – 24th) 

World Book Night (UK & International, 23rd) 

McLellan Arts Festival Poetry Fringe (Arran, Scotland, 28th)  

Colonsay Book Festival (Colonsay, Scotland 30th)  

Bocas Lit Fest (Caribbean, 30th – 2nd May) 

 

Past Events (March) 

International Women’s Day (8th ) & Women’s History Month 

British Science Week (11-20 ) 

Neurodiversity Celebration Week (21st – 27th )  

Jaipur Lit Fest 

 

Literary Awards & Prizes  

Winners 

Audie Awards 

Blue Peter Book Awards 

OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature  

Rathebones Folio Prize 

Royal Society Children’s Book Prize 

Shortlists 

British Book Awards 

Tir na n-Og 

UKLA 

YOTO Carnegie Medal  

YOTO Kate Greenaway Medal 

Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize

Longlists  

International Booker Prize 

Jhalak Prize 

Women’s Prize 

 

In the news:  

A Field Guide to Strange Medieval Monsters – Open Culture 

Beyond the fog of war: Books to help us understand the invasion of Ukraine – Guardian 

Free Colouring Books from the Public Domain Review – Open Culture  

Outrage as LGBT author banned at state school – Politics.co.uk 

The Reading Agency partners with the British Science Museum on this year’s Summer Reading Challenge Theme – The Reading Agency  

 

March in St Roch’s: World Book Day

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World Book Day is a celebration of reading, authors, illustrators and books which happens in March every year. This year was a particularly special one because it marked 25 years of World Book Day!  In St Roch’s, pupils were all given a token which they could use to claim a free book in places like Waterstones, Tesco & Sainsbury’s.  There were lots of great books to choose from this year and we were delighted to get some copies for the library.  

This year we celebrated World Book Day’s 25th anniversary with lots of library activities.   There was a book display with previous WBD books, featured authors and recommendations. S1 and S2 English classes visited the library with their iPads to take part in WBD quiz sessions. We had great fun playing games on Blooket, with questions on Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, Wimpy Kid and lots more. The quiz sets are  available online, just click on the one you’d like to play above.

Manga and comics are very popular in St Roch’s, so there was a special lunchtime quiz for all the fans. It was an impressive display of knowledge from everyone, but we had two stand out winners. Well done Louie and Ivy! 

During March pupils also took part in the library’s World Book Day Bookopoly reading challenge. Pupils read books to complete a genre on the board and get a prize draw entry. Some brave students went the extra mile and got entries for doing reading dares as well. 

Finally, Ms Nimmo’s S1 class created some beautiful poems about nature to display in the library during March. The poems were also made into a class ebook that everyone can enjoy. 

All in all it a was a great month of World Book Day celebrations. Looking forward now to next month’s Wee Write festival and some fantastic author events in schools across Glasgow!

Gary Chudleigh visits St Mungo’s library!

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Some S2 EAL pupils had the chance to meet the talented comics creator Gary Chudleigh!

He gave them some tips on how to build a story premise and keys to write a comic script.

At the end of the session, despite being a sunny Friday last period, some pupils stayed back to have a wee chat with Gary. There is nothing better than watching  pupils interact with an author.

He also talked about is last project, a new set of four comics, every story is a one-shot and self-contained, but each is connected and set in the same world.

You can help to make this collection a reality by showing your support and pre-ordering via kickstarter.