Tag Archives: Book Group

Holyrood Secondary – Reading Schools Gold Award

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Holyrood Secondary has achieved Reading Schools Gold Accreditation. What a fantastic journey we’ve had!

Well done to every single young person, member of staff and parent who has been involved in promoting and celebrating reading. Thank you to our partners in the community : Glasgow Zine Library, and Govanhill Library. Huge thanks to Scottish Book Trust for supporting us on this journey, and providing the framework enabling us to mark off all our achievements while having fun with reading.

We’ve had many adventures such as Chapter Chats Book Group and Podcast, Zine Making Workshops, coffee mornings, whole school Read Around the World, author visits, Poetry at Hampden Bowling Club, and boundless energy and ideas from pupil helpers and Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers who have championed reading throughout. At the heart of it all has been enjoying and celebrating reading and getting the right book into the right hands of our wonderful keen readers. We’ve been reading in the library, in classrooms, in the fuel zone, in the playground, at home, on holiday. Books can be enjoyed everywhere, anytime.

The Reading Schools programme, developed by Scottish Book Trust, is an accreditation programme for schools that are committed to building a reading culture for their learners and communities. The programme supports schools to build a reading culture, where every pupil is encouraged to feed their imagination through books. There are three levels of accreditation – Core, Silver and Gold. Reading Schools – Scottish Book Trust

We’ve had an amazing time, and can heartily recommend Reading Schools to anyone who wants to celebrate reading, with plenty of help on hand from Scottish Book Trust.

Chapter Chats Podcast

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At Holyrood, our Chapter Chats Book Group is attempting a Podcast! This is part of our Reading Schools journey. We’re all very excited, and we’ve had lots of help and support from all round the school. Mrs. Panaretou from the Music Dept. has shown us how to use Garage Band and lent us special recording equipment. Bilal in S6 is our sound engineer.

Setting up for recording

Chapter Chats was set up in 2023, as a book group “for all Busy Bookers in Holyrood, to openly recommend and rant about what you are reading”. We love doing this! We have 9 regular members, and we’ve met for special recording sessions 3 times – in September/ October.

Mr. McGrath and Bilal have hosted the podcasts. We could talk about books all day, so we’ve tried various things to keep on track, such as Quick Fire questions. It’s been so much fun, and we’ve learned lots about each other’s favourite books, and new genres to try.

Some of our Podcast crew

Our Book Group founder members, now in S5

Our next step is working out how to publish our Podcast. We’re looking at various options, and also looking at good practice from other schools throughout Scotland. Our Podcast will be available soon.

Ms Kindness

Holyrood Library, Spring Update

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March has been an exciting month in the Library, with celebrations for World Book Day, International Women’s Day, Ramadan, and World Poetry Day.

For World Book Day, we welcomed author Victoria Williamson for a brilliant workshop on ‘War of the Wind’. S2 pupils discussed the book, practised some BSL fingerspelling, had a wind-walker race, and cracked some codes using ciphers. Victoria’s books are extremely popular, and her visit sparked even more excitement around which title to read next. Well done 2L and 2M, and huge thanks to Victoria, and Scottish Book Trust – Live Live Literature funding – for making this possible. We also held a Coffee Morning, Book Swap, Scavenger Hunt and S1/S2 Read Around the World challenge, so the fun lasted for most of the month.

S2 enjoying workshop with Victoria Williamson

International Women’s Day, Biographies display

The Duke of Edinburgh volunteers created a book display of biographies for International Women’s Day featuring : Sabrina Cohen-Hatton (fire-fighter and homelessness campaigner), Indra Nooyi (former CEO of PepsiCola), Malala Yousafzai and Taylor Swift.

 

 

Our Book Group members were happy to see International Women’s Day, and Ramadan falling on the same month – he perfect opportunity to chat about our favourite female Muslim authors. These include Zanib Mian, Hafsah Faizal, Intisar Khanani, and Tahereh Mafi. We found out some fun facts, and looked at what inspires these fantastic authors.

Celebrating Muslim authors

  • Zanib Mian wrote the ‘Planet Omar’ books because she wanted to see more funny books for children about an everyday Muslim family. She also launched her own publishing company with a commitment to publishing inclusive books.
  • Iranian- American author Tahereh Mafi –  best known for the Book-Tok sensation ‘Shatter Me’ series – has now sold over 10 million copies.

 

 

Our Book Group is always a welcome space to chill out and share some quiet time together at the end of the week. For World Poetry Day, we watched a poetry video from Nadine Aisha Jassat  ‘Prayer and Breath’

Nadine’s poem ‘Breath and Prayer’

This was so relaxing, we loved the calmness of Nadine walking through Glasgow Womens’ Library, and also the nature imagery. Imaan and Fatima were inspired to write their own nature poetry.

The Librarian is listening to : My Dear Kabul (BBC Sounds)

While we are encouraged to read books and enjoy creative writing in Glasgow schools, it’s important to remember that women in other countries are often denied basic human rights such as education and freedom to express themselves or even to leave the house. ‘My Dear Kabul’, tells the story of Women Writers who risk everything after the Taliban invade Kabul, using a WhatsApp group to keep in touch, as every book and piece of writing they own has been destroyed. Available on BBC Sounds.

 

Earth Day @Holyrood Library

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Earth Day was the perfect time to look at how we can become more environmentally friendly in the library, and also to celebrate books and reading.

Earth Day book display

S1 volunteers created an excellent book display, selecting their favourite books on climate change, sustainability, plastic pollution, and oceans. They were keen to include books with beautiful illustrations, as we feel these are a powerful way to make people care more about the environment.       

We had great discussion about what everyone can do to help the Planet, such as reducing use of plastic and energy consumption. We ended our session with some wonderful artwork and an acrostic poem. Well done and thanks to Niamh, Zaynab, Freya, Matilda, Eliza, Julia, Kaneez, Mya  and Alfie for this

 

Creative writing Our lunchtime group wrote ‘A Thank You letter to Planet Earth’.

Throughout the year, we’ve been thinking of ways to cut down on waste and be more sustainable, very much  inspired by our fantastic PT Learning for Sustainability, and pupil Eco-Team. Here’s our Holyrood 3 step #GreenLibraries action plan:

Making our own posters for events

  • Print less and make our own posters, recycling scrap paper and magazines where possible. When printing is necessary, print double sided, or in booklet form.

 

  • We make our own bookmarks by recycling old books, cardboard, and packaging. These are very popular!

Recycled bookmarks

  • All pupils and staff have access to the Libby reading app. The free magazines are especially popular.  In a recent Staff survey –  all agreed that one of the benefits of Libby is that it’s kind to the environment (no more magazines going into the bin). You can get help with Libby here in the Library, and also from both the English dept., and Support for Learning. Join up in about 20 seconds – great for the holidays!

    Download the free Libby app

What I’m Reading

‘When I First Held You’

‘When I First Held You’ by Anstey Harris begins in a Repair shop. Judy, the owner, has experienced loss and tragedy in the past. Can she find a way to mend the damage? Will her story end like those of her customers, who get to see their broken objects restored?

Our Book Group loved the cover of this book, and think the golden thread shows how beauty and value is added when an object is repaired. With a bit of research, we found the Japanese word for exactly this ‘kintsugi’ – mending broken pottery with gold.

In Western culture, we sometimes tend to value things that are new, and often over-buy, without considering what items we already have. I’ve also enjoyed books by both Marie Kondo, and Helen Sanderson. Both books tackle the modern day problem of having too many possessions and how we can live more sustainably and find joy with less.

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

All go at Eastbank on the shortest month

What a fabulous February we’ve had at Eastbank School Library !  It’s such a short month, but we’ve packed so much into it here at Eastbank.

Spring is coming soon and Mrs Marshall our School Librarian has been spring cleaning – or refreshing – some of our favourite sections of the library. First of all, the senior section is looking so much better.  The shelves have been tidied and books refreshed with some new stock. The display is looking far more contemporary and the addition of the new stock has really brightened the place up.

 

 

 

 

There is even a new area now showing all the senior arrivals.  Hopefully the students don’t get too distracted from their studies by hunting for books with so many great choices displayed in front of them.

And there’s plenty of new books for all the other students to enjoy as well.

These manga were loaned out within 2 days!
2 of the new Black Clover books didn’t even make this photo as they were loaned out the same morning they came in….

Some great new books about beauty and transport also were a welcome addition to our stock.  They look amazing and I’m sure they’ll be popular too.

Following on from January, our staff book club is going from strength to strength.

In the library on the last Tuesday of the month we all gather and talk about all things bookish, and compare reads and recommendations.  We also participate in the entirely voluntary book dare scheme !  It’s a great example for the pupils to see how many staff, across all different subject areas in the school, love reading too.  And the staff really enjoy showing off their, “Ask me what I’m reading?” badges as well.And that’s not all.  Also, we’re really looking forward to World Book Day in March.  The tokens have just arrived !  Watch this space and we’ll tell you what we get up to all through next month.

 

Reading Highlights at Holyrood

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We hope you enjoy our reading highlights from December/ January. Huge thank you to our visitors, and also to the wonderful Library Helpers and young people for taking part!

Miss Brown’s S2 enjoyed a drawing workshop with Neil Slorance. We were inspired to hear about Neil’s early comics, love of drawing, travelogues and astronomy, and the brilliant graphic novels ‘Dungeon Fun’, and Doctor Who. We learned how to draw  faces, adding features to create expressions, and even had a shot at drawing our own comic strips, collaboratively with classmates.

This event was funded by the School Library Improvement Fund.

   

Also in January, we welcomed author Manjeet Mann, Clare from Refuweegee, and Fraser, Thomas and Clara from the Scottish Book Trust. This event was part of a Scottish Friendly Book Tour. This workshop was amazing! We heard about Manjeet’s journey as a writer, enjoyed readings from her verse novels ‘Run Rebel’, and ‘The Crossing’, tried some free-writing exercises, shared our work to the audience, had a Q. & A. So much great feedback :

“I loved the part when we had activities to do with a famous author. It inspired me to be more imaginative and to write more”   Haya (S2)

“S2  are currently looking at equality and empowerment, and this event helped to bring what we had been talking about in class to life. The pupil interaction (writing task) was brilliant. All round super event!” Mrs Ford, PT Pupil Voice

Also impressive was the care and effort  put in by all young people and staff to provide a warm welcome. An outstanding day, happy memories were made, and pupils left inspired!

In December, we had visits from Ailbhe and Martha, from Glasgow Zine Library. We loved making our own zines at these fun workshops.  GZL is an amazing local resource, and we are very grateful to Ailbhe for setting up links with us and working with our wonderful Equalities Alliance and Anti-Racist groups.

 

Also in December, over 200 S1 pupils completed the Glasgow Libraries Christmas Reading Challenge and received these lovely certificates. Well done everyone.

Our pupil helpers have been busy creating displays. Here is a selection:

World Hijab Day

Holocaust Memorial Day

Burns Day Poetry

The Reading Schools Committee is back in action. We enjoyed a Christmas party, put together a list of favourite books to read for Christmas and we’re now getting to grips with the YAldi shortlist. YAldi – Glasgow School Libraries’ Book Award – is a new event in the reading calendar, organised by Ms DeLeavey and Ms Sferrazzo 😊. We are looking forward to interviewing Ann Sei Lin via e-mail (what an amazing opportunity)! and voting for our favourite book in April.

Ann Sei Lin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Reviews Ending on a high note, our keen readers are always happy to share their book reviews. We hope that these will help you find a book that you will love. Happy Reading !

The Night Circus by Erin Morgensten “I really loved this book. It’s the definition of a fantasy book. It’s so magical and really transports you to another world. Definitely my favourite book.” Isha, S4

 

 

 

 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell “Beautifully written and full of historical detail. Deeply moving; I would recommend this book” Ms Blackburn

Holyrood Library – Summer Roundup

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Summer term has been a feast of reading and fun!

In May, we took part in ‘Keep the Heid and Read’, celebrating how reading for pleasure can improve mental health.

 

 

 

“Fiction books are great if you want to step away from social media for a while”. This is great advice from Mehek (S6)

 

 

In June, we celebrated Empathy Day. We chatted about how reading can take you to other worlds, and let you walk in someone else’s shoes. We selected our favourite books for Empathy and made a colourful display.

 

Lunchtime Reading We were delighted to win 10 copies of Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin. We hope to read and review this book together. Happy to share our spare copies!

“One girl against an Empire”

 

Our English dept. organised a whole school Literacy Day for S2, The mission was to solve the crime of the missing Stone of Destiny, which involved investigating and forensic science, using expertise from depts. across the school.

In the library, we created a display of detective fiction and criminology books.

We also researched the Stone of destiny and designed Wanted posters to help find it!

   

Zines : Mr. Kelly and Miss Johnston’s S2 classes created amazing zines in Science and made a display for readers to help themselves.

Bookmarks : Mumina and Abdul made these beautiful bookmarks as gifts to take away.

We were excited to win a copy of Hag Storm by Victoria Williamson (at a book auction to raise funds for Malawi). Great inspiration for a competition! Over 30 pupils entered ‘Name the Haggis’. The winning entry was Hector the Horse=Riding Haggis, inspired by the Tam O’Shanter theme in Victoria’s novel.

To round off the year, Holyrood was awarded Silver accreditation as a Reading School. Superb recognition of the work of our Reading Schools Committee, and all pupils and staff who promote a reading culture in the school, The library has been glowing with all the pupil care and nurturing. Congratulations to everyone, and thank you to Ms Longo for making it so much fun to work on this project with a brilliant team.

Have a great Summer everyone, and keep reading!

Holyrood library – ‘Book chat with S6, and World Book Day fun’

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This month we’re chatting to some of our wonderful S6 Pupils about books and reading. Thank you S6 for sharing these thoughts.

Taiba : “I like reading because it allows me to stand in other peoples’ shoes and experience someone else’s life for a while. I always struggled to decide what I wanted to pursue at university. Reading books written by many different professionals in their careers, such as ‘When Breath Becomes Air‘ made me feel  I could make a more educated choice. Reading has also prepared me for the university application process and has given me things to talk about in interviews”.

Manisa: “For me, reading helps me escape reality and also helps me be more creative. I got into reading by finding my types of books in the school library. Reading gives me a perspective that I haven’t seen before”.

Maryam: “I sometimes prefer books to their movies/ TV shows because it allows my imagination to visualise the plot which is different to when a movie dictates what you see. Another thing that I like about reading is that you’re able to appreciate the thoughts of each character, and you are put in their shoes, which can be interesting!”

Holly: “You may think you don’t enjoy reading because you have always viewed it as a task, but once you find a book that you love and are interested in, it can be a perfect escape from reality”

Miss K. :  “Seeing our S6 pupils studying in the library and hearing their feedback about books is one of the best things about my job. They can often be found encouraging younger pupils and doing paired reading with S1. Thanks also for the great idea of doing a Book-Tok display. Can’t wait to get started!”

On 3rd March, we celebrated World Book Day. As part of their Literacy project, S1-S3 pupils were asked to read a book set in a country other than the UK. Some borrowed books from the school library, whole others chose to access the E-library using their I=pads. Ms Longo also ran a project asking all year groups to recommend a favourite book from a different country. This truly reflects the diverse, multi-cultural and welcoming nature of our school.

Our EAL Book Group continues to meet at lunchtimes when we have fun chatting, eating lunch and finding new books to enjoy together.

 

On library Teams, we’ve enjoyed nominating our favourite places we’d like to visit, as part of the ‘Strange Worlds Detective Agency’ competition. These have included New York; the Eiffel Tower in Paris; Italy, the Maldives, and Bali in Indonesia. I feel as if I’ve travelled the World, from my desk chair.

Thanks to all pupil helpers S1 – S6 who have contributed so much time and energy helping in the Library this month.