Category Archives: St Roch’s Secondary School

St Roch’s Reads: June

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Empathy Day 12th June

Empathy Day is a day dedicated to celebrating and promoting empathy, particularly through the power of stories. It encourages individuals of all ages to develop their empathy skills by understanding and sharing the feelings and experiences of others.

Books and storytelling are central to Empathy Day, as reading can help individuals develop empathy by helping us to experience different perspectives. Empathy Lab Uk provided lots of free activities and resources for taking part in your school. In St Roch’s, we created an ’empathy bookshelf’, full of titles recommended in the read for empathy guide. Pupils shared author quotes on the tannoy, explaining what empathy is and the power of reading for empathy. We also had some fun class activities, creating colourful Emotion Maps to explore all the feelings that crop up in a day. 

Titles from the Read for Empathy collections are available free to download on the digital library. You can browse a selection on our library Padlet here. 

Reading Schools: Waterstones visit

As part of our Reading Schools journey, this month the leadership team went on trip to Waterstones to give pupils a chance to choose their own library stock. Pupils were given a budget and tasked with choosing new books they thought their peers would like to read. They put a lot of thought into choosing, asking classmates in advance for requests and putting their booktok knowledge to good use. It was a fantastic day out, Waterstones is a beautiful book shop with a great stock selection and very helpful staff. The reading leadership group had a great time and did a wonderful job, the books have been super popular.

Library Assistant Awards

We had our library team end of year party this month, and what a celebration it was. Pupils worked hard for months to complete tasks on their bingo sheets and I was very impressed with how many boxes were ticked! We had a prize raffle for pupils who completed a line or ten boxes and special prizes for the Bingo Champions. Congratulations to Iman and Roya for being the absolute best Bingo-ers, completing every box on the sheet.

Some pupil volunteers also received Library Assistant Awards. The awards acknowledge pupils’ commitment, responsibility and dedication to their library assistant role.  To achieve the awards they have given their time to work on reading projects, create displays, act as mentors and care for library areas. Pupils received a certificate, goody bag and a pin to reflect their bronze, silver or gold awards. Congratulations to all our award winners (particularly to Ore for silver and Iman for gold), who have now been promoted to senior assistants. You should be very proud of yourselves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it for this term, have a great summer everyone. Happy reading!

St Roch’s Reads: May

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St Roch’s reading leadership group has been working hard this year towards gaining a Reading School accreditation.  One of the group aims was to think of new ways to encourage pupils to discuss and share books they’ve enjoyed. Inspired by a Literacy Trust idea, we decided to make a Recommendation Tree.

The tree is on a noticeboard in the English corridor so pupils can easily see it was they move about school. The leadership group put lots of work in making the tree, cutting out templates and making colourful collection boxes for classrooms.  Teachers have been encouraging pupils to add a recommended read as part of their library visits and class reading time. It’s lovely to see the tree growing new leaves this term! If you’re curious about what our pupils are reading or are looking for a new book, here’s a few favourites that have been shared this month. Well done to all the pupil helpers who made and maintain the tree particularly Iman, Amany, Roya, Millie & Jodie. Great work folks!

 

New Books: Pupil Picks

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We love getting a new-books delivery and there’s lots to choose from in the latest batch. Thankfully pupil volunteers are always ready to help you choose which ones to read first! Here are some of their top picks from the new book selection:

Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc

Lucy Kane hates the uber-popular PSL. She finds it overrated, which is bad because she works at Cup o’ Jo, the local coffee shop her mom owns. Business  hasn’t been great in the off-season, but that’s okay because it always picks up during the fall… Until Java Junction, a multinational coffee chain, opens across the street and makes things harder for the small shop. And to make matters worse, it turns out Jack Harper, the new kid in school and Lucy’s secret crush, is the son of the owner. Will Lucy find a way to save her mom’s coffee shop?

Pupils say: Crushing on your supposed rival enemy? Can pumpkin spice lattes bring you together?

Murder on a School Night by Kate Weston 

All Kerry wants to do is stay at home with her rom-coms and strict retainer schedule. Instead, her BFF Annie has roped her into going to their first sixth-form party to investigate who’s cyberbullying Heather, the most popular girl in school.

There’s never a good time to find a dead body. But finding a dead body while you’re trying to kiss your crush? Dead awkward.

Pupils say: A young detective looking for love? Count me in. 

Bingsu for two by Sujin Witherspoon

Meet River Langston-Lee: he’s dumped his girlfriend, walked out of his SATs, and quit his job at his parents’ Seattle cafe in spectacularly disastrous fashion – even for him.

Somehow, he manages to talk his way into a job at a failing Korean cafe, Bingsu for Two. There he meets grumpy goth Sarang Cho, his new, no-BS co-worker, and she is as determined to make River’s life hell as she is to save her family’s cafe. When Bingsu for Two catches the attention of River’s ex and his parents’ cafe around the corner, he faces a choice: keep letting others control his life or stand up for the place that’s become home. And a green-haired girl who’s not as heartless as he originally thought . . .

Pupils say: An enemies-to-lovers cafe rivalry!

The First Move by  Jenny Ireland 

Juliet believes girls like her – girls with arthritis – don’t get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends’ social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym. There, she isn’t just ‘the girl with crutches’.
Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape; there, he’s not just ‘the boy with the brother’.
Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her – and she wouldn’t want him to be anyway – he always acts like he’s cooler than everyone else. Little do they know they’ve already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . .

Pupils say: A love story of two people living in different worlds. Is fate is the key to love??

Enchanted To Meet You (Fairytale in Progress) by Cara Stout 

After setting fire to her last summer job  Imogen Rogers needs a change.So, when her best friend hooks her up with a gig at Fairytale Gardens, she grabs the opportunity with both hands!Too bad it means working with Tristian Walton – the owner’s son – who is as grumpy as he is handsome.

Imogen is cast as the Princess to Tristan’s Prince Charming and as they kiss in character, sparks begin to fly. As she gets closer to uncovering the truth about the park, she’s faced with a difficult choice: expose the scandal or protect the one place – and person – she’s ever wanted to fight for?

Pupils say: A romance between people who couldn’t be more different. A broke average girl and a young, mean ‘prince’! 

The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen  

Lunar and his misfit crew of fellow orphans live on Mars, scavenging for scraps in a wasteland ravaged by wars and storms. Lunar knows all the legends about dragons, but survival is his only priority. Until one day, a salvaging mission goes dangerously wrong.

As he takes shelter underground, he uncovers the only hope left for a dying planet: the last dragon. And when the dragon won’t let him go, it becomes alarmingly clear: Lunar Jones has been chosen to save Mars.

Pupils say: A tale about a stray kid who is chosen by a dragon to be a hero –  and he has no say in it! 

 

You can borrow all of these books (and lots more) from the school library- just ask at the desk.

Happy reading!

St Roch’s Reads: March

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What’s happening this month in St Roch’s School library

World Book Day

World Book Day is annual celebration of authors, illustrators, books and the joy of reading. It’s one of our calendar highlights in St Roch’s Library. It’s a great chance to encourage reading for fun and celebrate with some book-ish games.

This year pupils got to choose from our Creative Characters stations or Book Jenga. Pupils used lego or modelling clay to make some very impressive creations. There were lots of wonderful characters, including some well known faces and plenty of 100% originals. We got the idea for Book Jenga from the Scottish Book Trust – and added in some bookish dares for people who knocked the towers over. It’s always popular, pupils love tower building games ( especially when they fall).  There was heated discussions around the book questions and lots of shouting, hopping and scribbling for the dares. Looking forward to next year already!

Ramadan and Lent

March is an important month for our religious school community, with lent and Ramadan both taking place. Throughout the month, school challenges were held to raise money for local charities. Well done to all the pupils who took part in the Fast for a day or Readathon challenge.

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (IWD) happens on the 8th March every year. It’s a day to celebrate all the amazing things women have achieved, and highlight the many ways women have and continue to influence the world. Importantly, it’s also used to raise awareness about past and current issues women face around the world. if you’d like to find out more, we have loads of great books in the school library about women who have done amazing things. You can see a few of our top picks on the library Padlet. 

 

Our library volunteers put together a display to mark IWD, choosing books about important or inspiring women to highlight. They also picked out some new and favourite fiction books written by women. Special thanks to Iman who found some great quotes to fit the display. 

 

And that brings us to the end of the month and the end of term. Happy reading during the spring break!

New Books: pupil picks

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We’ve got lots of great new books fresh in this month. Pupils were quick as ever to rifle through the boxes! Read on to see their pick of the bunch..

Taylor Blake Is a Legend by Laura Jane Williams 

Welcome to the life of Taylor Blake: complicated crushes, awkward encounters and hoping for a first kiss! A hilarious and heartfelt new teen series that fans of Geek Girl and Jacqueline Wilson will love. 

Pupils’ say: Classic teenage romance, looks worth a read 

An unlikely proposition by Rosalyn Eves 

Eleanor did not come to London to be proper and boring. After the death of her husband shortly after their marriage she wants nothing more than her independence. She’s hardly looking to remarry. Eleanor quickly devises a plan that includes a fake engagement. What’s not a part of the plan? Falling for a dashing, quiet man outside of her social circle – a man who is not her betrothed.

Can she survive the Season with her heart and her fortune intact? 

Pupils’ say: Unexpected old-timey romance that looks sweet to read 

Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden 

Denizen Hardwick doesn’t believe in magic – until he’s ambushed by a monster created from shadows and sees it destroyed by a word made of sunlight.
That kind of thing can really change your perspective.
Now Denizen is about to discover that there’s a world beyond the one he knows. A world of living darkness where an unseen enemy awaits.
Fortunately for humanity, between us and the shadows stand the Knights of the Borrowed Dark. Unfortunately for Denizen, he’s one of them . . . 

Pupils’ say: Knights are so cool and the embodiment of darkness thing makes it better 

Ms B says: Such a good series, great for Harry Potter fans, who are ready for something a bit more grown up. 

HappyHead by Josh Silver 

“We are in an epidemic. An epidemic of unhappiness.  Friends, here is the good news: HappyHead has the answer. “

When Seb is offered a place on a radical retreat designed to solve the national crisis of teenage unhappiness, he is determined to change how people see him and make his parents proud. But as he finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Finn, Seb starts to question the true nature of the challenges they must undergo. The deeper into the programme the boys get, the more disturbing the assessments become, until it’s clear there may be no escape… 

The Thread That Connects Us by Ayaan Mohamud 

Safiya has struggled to pick up the pieces of her family since her dad left them and moved to Somalia. She refuses to trust in love, despite wishing she could fall for boy-next-door Yusuf… And then her dad moves back to town with his new family, shattering her life all over again.

Halima doesn’t want to move to England. She resents her stepdad for dropping her in a strange new life with a new language to learn – replacing her friends with bullies who set out to shame her.

When the girls are thrown together at school, it’s hate at first sight. But as they uncover life-changing secrets from their parents’ past, they begin to realize…What if the key to all their problems lies in their sisterhood? 

Pupils’ say: The blurb sounds relateable and compelling 

The Last Thing You’ll Hear by Jan Dunning 

“Have you ever been so obsessed with someone that you start to lose yourself? “

Wren and Lark are rivals first and sisters second, so when mysterious music producer, Adam, and his DJ prodigy, Spinner, come to their small town, the game is on to impress. 

Lark is soon taken under Adam’s wing, but as she’s pulled deeper into his web, distancing herself from friends and family, Wren starts to suspect that there’s a more sinister side to Adam. And when the sisters get a chance to perform at Enrapture the most talked-about festival of the summer, suddenly there is a lot to lose…  

Pupil’s say: Looks like a horror but the blurb makes me curious about this ’obssession’. 

Running Away for Beginners by Mark Illis  

Jasper was just diagnosed with cancer. His treatment starts in a week, and in the meantime his parents want him to carry on as normal. Jasper knows that’s impossible. His friends help to organize a weekend trip to get away from everything that’s happened and clear his mind. It’ll be like running away for beginners, they joke. 

On the journey, they come to understand each other better as everyone’s secrets come out. Except Jasper doesn’t tell his friends his own secret: that when the return journey begins, he won’t be going with them. 

Pupils’ say: Running away from problems – something we’re all compelled to do sometimes!

Girl, goddess, queen by Bea Fitzgerald  

Thousands of years ago, the gods told a lie: how Persephone was a pawn in the politics of other gods. How Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his bride. How her mother, Demeter, was so distraught she caused the Earth to start dying.
The real story is much more interesting.

Persephone wasn’t taken to hell: she jumped. There was no way she was going to be married off to some smug god more in love with himself than her.

Now all she has to do is convince the Underworld’s annoyingly sexy, arrogant and frankly rude ruler, Hades, to fall in line with her plan. A plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core. 

Pupils’ say: Seems like an absolute slay girl book #girlpower 

St Roch’s Reads: January

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Prelims are in full swing and we’ve had lots of pupils in the library studying up. Best of luck everyone! What else has been happening in the library this month?

International Mother Language Day 

International Mother Language Day is celebrated every year on the 21st of February and the purpose of this day is to raise awareness of language, cultural diversity and multilingualism around the world.  Language helps to maintain the culture, heritage and history of a society, which is why it is so important to celebrate.  

There are books in many languages available in the library, including Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish, Polish, Portugeuse, Urdu, with lots of bilingual texts that include English translations. You can browse some of our top picks here and there’s plenty more available in the library.  

 

Cultural Diversity  celebration

Volunteers Iman, Amany, Roya, Rose and Kah Jun have been working hard to get ready for our Pop Up Library at St Roch’s Cultural Diversity Event in February. They have chosen and collected books representing authors/characters from all around the world. Lots of effort is going into decorating the library stand too- we can’t wait to see it on the day.  

 

Burns Night 

 

Every January 25th Scotland celebrates ‘Burns Night’, to mark the life and work of the poet Robert Burns. We’ve got lots of fiction books in the library that use poetry to tell a story. These verse-novels are a great way to get into poetry, using poems to tell dramatic stories of love, friendship, family, and lots more.

Check out our Poetree Display this month in the library, or browse our favourite verse novels on Padlet. Thanks to our first year story group for the creative decoration. The group practised black out poetry techniques, upcycling old pages into leafs.

 

Happy reading!

St Roch’s Reads: December

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Season’s Greetings! Can you believe it’s the end of another term? Here’s a few  highlights from St Roch’s School Library to wrap up a very speedy month.  

Swatch eMagazine  

The winter edition of Swatch: Glasgow School Libraries’ eMagazine is out now. The winter edition features a great Q&A with author Skye McKenna by St Roch’s pupils. There’s also upcoming book releases and lots of reviews and recommendations. You can browse the issue online to keep up to date with new book releases and see what pupils are reading ( you might also get some bookish Christmas gift inspiration). 

Library volunteers 

After 8 weeks of hard work, this month pupils finished their volunteer-mentoring.  Those who completed all their training and helped in the library once a week, became official Library Volunteers. Welcome to the team everyone! 

There’s been a huge amount of effort put in by our pupil volunteers so far this year. We celebrated all their hard work with an end-of-term party this week. The new volunteers were welcomed to the team,  there was a prize raffle for pupils who went the extra mile and  new levels of festive competitiveness were reached in charades. A big shout out to the pupils who worked very hard over the term and completed the most tasks on their bingo sheets, Roya, Ava, Iman & Amany. Amazing work folks, well done. 

Introducing Libby 

First years were introduced to the digital library this month. Everyone set up an account and learned how to use the Libby app. With Libby pupils can access thousands of books and audio books on their iPad.

There’s lots of great features, like different background, dyslexia friendly font and built in dictionaries. After a bit of practise our first years all went away with an eBook they could adjust to best suit them – ready to read! 

Festive Fiction

Lastly, we’ve some lovely books on our highlight displays this month that are perfect for the festive season.

Some like it cold by Elle McNicoll 

After a long absence, 18-year-old Jasper is finally heading home for the holidays – and she’s keeping secrets.  Arthur, a budding filmmaker, is turning the town of Lake Pristine into a small town story worthy of the big screen. His plans are disrupted by the arrival of the town’s golden girl – the antagonist of his school days; a girl he’s never forgotten.

Jasper Montgomery is back in Lake Pristine for one reason: to say goodbye. But before long small-town tensions start to rise, and a certain brooding film buff starts to look like a very big reason to stay . . .

Let it snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson & Lauren Myracle 

It’s Christmas Eve and the worst blizzard for fifty years has blanketed Gracetown. But as well as snowflakes, love is in the air – and appearing in the most unexpected ways . . .

Who’d have thought a freezing hike from a stranded train would end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger? Or that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow could lead to romance with an old friend? Or that the path to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks? 

Mistletoe and Murder by Robin Stevens 

It’s Christmas, and the snow is falling in Cambridge, where the detective duo Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are spending the festive period.

But Hazel’s hopes of relaxing amongst the beautiful spires, cosy libraries and inviting tea-rooms are dashed by the danger lurking in the dark stairwells of Maudlin College. Two days before Christmas, there is a terrible accident.  At least, it appears to be an accident – until the Detective Society look a little closer, and realise a murder has taken place.

Faced with several irritating grown-ups and fierce competition from a rival agency, they must use all their cunning and courage to find the killer (in time for Christmas Day, of course). 

All the jingle ladies by Beth Garrod 

Molly hates Christmas. And it’s not even her fault. Her mum and dad had the biggest ever Christmas single when she was a child, complete with video evidence of Molly in a hideous Christmas costume joyfully singing the mortifying last line that EVERYBODY knows. 

Molly has spent her life trying to play it down but then the song is used in the hottest new Christmas film. It’s only November and it’s already EVERYWHERE. And when Molly meets a cute guy at the premier, how can she stop him from working out who she is? 

But Molly isn’t the only one hiding her real identity… will her Christmas romance turn out to have a Hollywood ending? 

 Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (ebook) 

I’ve left some clues for you. If you want them, turn the page. If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please. At the urge of her lucky-in-love brother, sixteen-year-old Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on her favourite bookshop shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Curious, Dash isn’t one to back down from a challenge – and the Book of Dares is the perfect distraction he’s been looking for. As they send each other on a scavenger hunt across Manhattan, a whirlwhind romance ensues on paper. But finding out if they share their on-page chemistry in real life could be their biggest dare yet….   

 I’m Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas by Tiffany Schmidt (ebook) 

Noelle Partridge is known for three things: being the best ballet dancer, babysitter, and person with the most Christmas spirit in her small town. But lately she’s bored by the lessons at her dance school, and her friends and father are more bah humbug than Hallmark movie marathon. So when her favorite babysitting clients ask her to accompany them on a ski trip over winter break, she packs her bags for the slopes. It helps that they’re offering double her rate—she’ll need the money for Beacon, an elite ballet academy that’s granted her an audition. 

Noelle is ready to “Deck the Halls” and have fa la la la fun, until Wyatt, the older half-brother of her babysitting charges, decides to surprise his family for the holiday. He’s one of the best dancers at Beacon, and makes Noelle’s head spin faster than pirouettes. Unfortunately, she also manages to step on his toes—spoiling his surprise and complicating his secret plans. After a few missteps, Noelle and Wyatt begin to thaw toward each other and bond over the big decisions looming in each of their lives. With enough Christmas magic, Noelle might just start the New Year with lots of babysitting cash in her pocket and a chance with the pas de deux partner of her dreams. 

Happy reading!

Bookweek @ St Rochs

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Book Week Scotland 2024

Book Week is an annual celebration of books and reading that takes place every November across Scotland. Book Week Scotland 2024 took place on 18–24 November- here’s how we celebrated in St Roch’s School Library. 

Book Hunting

Our first years took part in a book scavenger hunt! First everyone played a quick Blooket quiz to refresh our learning about how the library is organised. Then we split into teams and got mission cards. The challenge was to find the books on your mission card and be the quickest to complete all 14. All the teams were fantastic, they all finished the challenge and we were very impressed by how speedy some were! 

How to choose a book

We held a session on book choosing for second and third year classes. Sometimes pupils struggle to find the ‘right’ book for them when they visit the library and it can be a bit stressful. We want to make sure that everyone can leave the library with something they’ll enjoy for their class personal reading time. 

For this session, pupils learned some simple strategies to help with choosing a book. Then we split into groups to complete a’ reading personality’ quiz which helped pupils to narrow down a couple of genres/library sections that might suit them.  It was a good bit of fun which gave pupils some helpful pointers (some people were definitely surprised by their ‘personality’ result!). Want to find your reading personality? The quiz is available here as part of Scottish Book Trust’s Reading Schools resources .  

Guiding Lights

Lastly, library volunteers lead by chief display planner Iman, did a great job on a lovely Book Week Display.

This year’s theme is hope and the volunteers chose to focus their display on  Guiding Lights – a celebration of characters who give us strength, guidance and inspire us to keep us going. Volunteers made some great choices of books, including The sad ghost club by Lize Meddings, Punching the air by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam, and When stars are scattered by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed.

Well done volunteers! And a big thank you for all your help with the activities this week.

Lastly every year, people accross the country share stories as part of the ‘Scotland’s Stories’ campaign. Scottish Book trust include a handful of favourites in a free book for Book Week Scotland. You can order a free copy of this year’s collection ‘Hope’ now from the SBT website.

St Roch’s Reads: October

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What’s happening this month in St Roch’s School Library?

Story groups

Our S1 and S2 story groups take place every two weeks in the library. In September we had a new bunch of pupils join, so we made some ‘All about me’ zines to get to know each other. Our S2 group did some poetry craft, making their own patchwork-poems out of quotes from lines of poetry and songs. 

This month we had a spooky theme for our sessions- monsters! We learned a bit about the story of Frankenstein (did you know that ‘Frankenstein’ was actually the scientist, not the monster??) and then designed our own monsters. There were some very scary creations! Afterwards we managed to squeeze in a Blooket ‘gold quest’ quiz, which was almost as scary.  

New volunteers 

This month we welcome 10 new volunteers who want to join the pupil library team. Our new members met their mentors who will help them learn all about being a library assistant and show them the ropes for the next month. Pupils will be learning about how the library is organised, practising customer service skills and helping senior volunteers with projects.  They’ll be pros in no time!

October Book Displays

We’ve got two spotlight displays this month. On our Black History Month display you’ll find a range of non-fiction books celebrating Black history, culture and important figures. Don’t worry if you’re not a non-fiction fan, there’s also some great fiction books by Black authors. 

October is of course Spooky Season. If you’re a fan of all things scary, our Halloween display is perfect for you. It’s full of frightful books, ghoulish horror, mysterious murders and things that go bump in the night.

Happy reading everyone!

St Roch’s Reads: September

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What’s been happening this month in St Roch’s School Library?

After a brief visit from the sun, Autumn is definitely here. This week our library assistants Niamh and Ava put together an autumnal- themed display, full of lovely seasonal colours. 

The library also got a wee refresh this month, with some new carpet. All the library volunteers were on hand to help with emptying the shelves and they deserve a huge Thank You for their efforts. Now the real task is reshelving– but they’re doing a great job of it! 

We welcomed all our new S1 pupils to the library this month. Classes learned how to use the library, all about the different books available and they also got their brand new library cards.

We had some kind S2 and S3 pupils on hand to help answer questions and show younger pupils around too. Everyone is ready for a great year of library visits! 

Lastly, the new book options have been great this month. Here’s the top picks so far from library assistant Roya.