Tag Archives: Library events

Volunteering at Holyrood Library, December Update 

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Our Library Volunteers have been working hard on some great projects to brighten these dark, Winter months. 

Reader of the Month notice board

Rand and Tafsirr created a Reader of the Month noticeboard, to recognise enjoyment and effort in reading.

This month’s award winners – Balint (S2), Egbert (S1) & Melissa (S3), will each receive a book of their choice from the book vending machine.  

 

Book Swap here!

Thanks to Filza, Gia and Izza who created this beautiful giant sign for our Book Swap table during Book Week Scotland. They used the lighthouse logo to represent ‘Hope’ and added their own style and flourish. The Book Swap was a great success. 

 

 

Book swapping at interval

Enjoying books together at the Coffee morning

Our Staff Coffee Morning was a hoot (thanks to Ms Ford for bringing Hedwig along), and S3 Volunteers helped serve refreshments, and gave out copies of ‘Hope’ kindly gifted by the Scottish Book Trust. There was plenty of great chat between staff and young people, who love sharing book recommendations together .

 

S4 Volunteer Lucy, working at the issue desk

Our 14 Volunteers, ranging from S3 – S6 have a lot of fun, but there’s also a goal to achieve, which is completing their Duke of Edinburgh Award at either Bronze or Silver level; or for S6 – their Caritas or Leadership Award.

 

 

 

Like all school librarians, I’m always proud to support our young people with their volunteering, and see this is a key aspect of our School Library Service, offering  “a wide range of interesting and fun volunteering experiences that help others develop new skills and make new friends”. A Vision for Glasgow Life Libraries, April 2023

Our October Volunteers’ Survey asked –  What is your favourite thing about volunteering?

“Meeting new people and becoming friends. The Library is a really inviting space and the people I’ve met are all amazing.” (S3 Volunteer)

“I really enjoyed the creative tasks like wrapping a gift and putting up the posters. But also the less creative tasks like taking record of newly ordered books so all in all I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything!” (S6 Volunteer)

In the survey, our young people agreed that they had achieved some, or all of the following outcomes through volunteering :

1. Of benefit to the school community 2. Teamwork 3. Helping other people 4. Learning new skills 5. Good for my mental health 6. Good for my confidence

 We’ll have more projects and book recommendations to share in 2025. Happy Reading!

October @ Holyrood Library

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We’ve had a busy month so far, with plenty to celebrate in the Library.

October is Black History Month, so our S3 Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers -Tafsirr, Rand and Lauren created this fantastic book  display. 

They wanted to highlight books that were joyful and celebratory, so included biographies of famous actors, sportspeople, scientists, musicians and World leaders. And some history books, celebrating art and culture, but also remembering the sad and unjust parts of Black history in a respectful way.

 

In Holyrood, we feel that it’s very important to provide diverse and anti-racist books.  So in a survey, when asked what they would like to see in the library, our Senior pupils made these suggestions :

  • A section focused on highlighting ethic minorities like biographies or books on cooking
  • More books in different languages, and also books to encourage people to learn more about other cultures
  • Scottish brown and black boys/girls everyday experiences
  • Maybe more history books on Scotland’s involvement in the slave trade.

Some of the books purchased so far:

 

Higher ESOL requests

Our readers are passionate about seeing voices of all different nationalities and cultures represented on the library shelves. Mrs Cooper’s Higher ESOL class asked for a selection of books by black authors for the classroom. Here are some of the authors they are currently enjoying: Malorie Blackman, Jumata Emill, Sharon Flake, Danielle Jawando, Shade Lapite, Jason Reynolds, Efua Traore, Alex Wheatle.

And we often like to discuss favourite authors and poets in our library Teams chat. We thought these words were very inspiring: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive: and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style”. Maya Angelou

At the start of October, we also celebrated Dyslexia Awareness Week with a pupil-led outreach library in the Fuel zone.

This showcased the books we have available in a dyslexia friendly format; and Mr. Lang provided a Quiz about famous people.  We also had a Design Your Own Superpower competition, to show that all skills and talents are valued, such as super strength, invisibility, telekinesis, talking to animals, being kind, helping one another, and putting your rubbish in the bin. So many skills – what a talented bunch!

Well done everyone

Miss Kindness

 

 

 

Summer Reading at Holyrood

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Reading Challenge

The S2 Library Helpers were so keen to encourage reading over the holidays, that they made up a Holyrood Reading Challenge. They chatted about this over a few lunchtimes and came up with a giant whiteboard of ideas. We then wrote the challenges on post-it notes that went into a lucky dip jar for participants to choose from. Here are some of the challenges:

  • Read in bed for 10 mins. every night for a week
  • Read in your garden or in a park
  • Read a page out loud to your pet
  • Read while you’re waiting for your toast to pop up
  • Listen to an eBook on the Libby app

It was a lot of fun, and we all enjoyed choosing a challenge and receiving a bookmark and merit for taking part. I’m now looking forward to hearing how everyone got on, and also what ideas the Helpers will have for our new term.

S2 Helpers came up with ideas

 

 

Seniors enjoyed the Challenge too!

While school’s out, school librarians continue to carry out essential work, joining up hundreds of new members arriving into S1, re-organising and improving collections, ordering new books, creating resources and planning projects and activities for the coming year.

I’ve been reviewing some of the pupil feedback from throughout the year, and noticed how much S1 enjoy their lunchtimes in the library. And also that some readers would like a little more help in choosing books. So I’ve ordered new board games for lunchtimes (chess, snakes & ladders, Connect4, Uno, Boggle and others), and re-organised a book display stand at the entrance to highlight new genres, including : Afrofuturism, Eco-stories, Sci-fi & Dystopian, Animal stories, Scottish authors, and Re-told fairy tales. There’s also a space for – Recommended by You, as pupil recommendations are one of the best ways to find a good book. Hopefully our keen readers will like the new display and make suggestions for anything else they would like to see included.

 

I’ve also enjoyed some time off to go on trips and celebrations including:

  • Edinburgh Castle, to watch ‘Harry Potter’ on giant screen, with live film music performed by the RSNO
  • the ‘Discovering Degas’ exhibition at the wonderful Burrell Collection.
  • my daughter’s graduation from Glasgow Caledonian University. (nice to think that some of our own Holyrooders are also studying there, I’m sure I saw a few familiar faces at the ceremony).

Hope everyone’s had a lovely holiday, look forward to seeing you back next week !

Miss Kindness

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

March in St Paul’s

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March was an extremely busy month in the library. We had various World Book Day events and two amazing author sessions. Let’s have a look 😊

World Book Day 2024

The library was very busy during the week of World Book Day. We had a book themed Scavenger Hunt, a Big Book Quiz and an Easter basket full of goodies that was raffled off to teachers. All of the events were organised and ran by our Senior Literacy Ambassadors. Congratulations go to them, they did an absolutely fantastic job 🥰

Winners of the scavenger hunt

Big Book Quiz

Easter Basket Winner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Visits

During March the library hosted not one but two fabulous author visits. The first author was Hiba Noor Khan talking about her book ‘Safiyyah’s War’

Hiba talking about Safiyyah’s War

Our second author visit was from Brian Conaghan talking about his book ‘Treacle Town’. Brian’s visit was part of the Library Young Team Project supported by the Scottish Library Improvement Fund.

Brian Conaghan talking about his book Treacle Town

 

St Roch’s Reads: March

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Word book day 

March means World Book Day time! The library has handed out lots of tokens and they’re available until the end of the month. WBD token can be used to claim a free book in bookshops an participating shops until 31st March. You can find out about the books and shops here. 

To mark the day, this year pupils competed in quizzes and joined in some bookish games of Tumbling Towers. Every block had a question or action and we had some delightful reading dares as forfeits. Big thanks to all the pupil library assistants who helped out as activity leaders.

 

Yoto shortlist 

On 13th March the Yoto Carnegie award shortlist was announced and the pupil assistants have jumped right in. We’re reading Away with words , The door of no return and Steady for this at the moment, you can find out more about these titles below.  Stay tuned for next month’s blog to see what we thought.

Away with words by Sophie Cameron 

Gala and her dad, Jordi, have just moved from home in Cataluña to a town in Scotland, to live with Jordi’s boyfriend Ryan. Gala doesn’t speak much English, and feels lost, lonely and unable to be her usual funny self. Until she befriends Natalie, a girl with selective mutism. Set in a world where words appear physically when people speak, AWAY WITH WORDS explores the importance of communication and being there for those we love 

The door of no return / Kwame Alexander

Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin  loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. But when the unthinkable  occurs during a festival between rival villages, Kofi ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves. 

Steady for this by Nathanael Lessore 

Shaun (aka MC Growls) is ready to drop his best bars and smash the competition at Raptology. That way, he’s convinced Tanisha, his crush, will finally give him a chance.
But when a livestream practice goes epically wrong, Growls’s dirty laundry is literally exposed. He’s finally achieved his dreams of going viral – not in the good way.
Now Tanisha won’t look at him, he’s the joke of the school and there’s no way he can show his face at the competition. Will he ever catch a break? 

Happy Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, taking place in March and April this year. It is a holy month which Muslims observe by giving, fasting, worship, studying the Quran, spiritual reflection, prayer and helping others. The end of Ramadan will be celebrated in April with Eid al-Fitr – the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast. Remember to be considerate of your Muslim friends during Ramadan, as they may be fasting during the day. 

Many St Roch’s pupils are observing Ramadan this month, including some of our library volunteers. They put together a lovely library display to share information about Islamic culture and promote Muslim authors. Well done to Rose & co for their work.

The holidays will soon be upon us, we hope you all enjoy a well earned break. Time to rest and recharge before getting ready for exam season! 

Ramadan Mubarak & Happy Easter to everyone celebrating.

World Book Day at Holyrood

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For World Book Day, our focus was reading for pleasure. With so much fun to fit in, WBD became a Week, instead of a day!  Young people and staff enjoyed sharing their love of reading. Here’s a round-up of some of the activities.

Book Reviews: Fabia & Hunnah in S3 are keen readers of  new and trending fiction and popped in after school to chat about books.

 

“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” is such a thrilling book! It’s about a high school girl named Pip who decides to investigate a murder case for a school project. As she delves deeper, she uncovers secrets and twists that keep you on the edge of your seat. The book is full of suspense and unexpected turns. It’s a real page-turner! If you enjoy mysteries, you’ll love this one! Fabia, S3

“The Inheritance Games” I loved this book there are so many puzzles for you to solve all throughout the book, not just in the writing, but all of the people are just as mysterious as their words. I found that the subtle romance subplots involving the four brothers were also intriguing because one of them is a 10 but so is his brother. Hunnah, S3

 

 Chantelle, S6 always finds time for reading, even with a busy study schedule : For World Book Day, I recommend ‘A Song of Wraith and Ruin’ by Roseanne A. Brown. I rated this book five stars. It is a fast paced, action-packed story about two people who experience love, loss, betrayal and it is very bingeable! It honestly felt almost like watching a movie (I even bought my own copy after reading it).

Something I really liked was that the main characters are black. This is the first fantasy book I have ever seen to have a black main character, which as a black person myself, made me feel seen and recognised. I felt closer to the characters, especially Karina who bears the weight of expectation of everyone around her as she is the crown princess.

I loved that this book doesn’t portray black people as the negative stereotype seen in films, but instead portrays us as exactly what we are. Human. Chantelle, S6

 

 

Book Breakfast

Staff and Pupils joined together for a Book Breakfast before start of class, on World Book Day. We enjoyed croissants, fruit and snacks while chatting about what we’re reading. What a great way to start the day!

Throughout the day, a feast of activities was on offer, organised by our brilliant staff and young people all around the school, including a Book Swap table; Dressing up as your favourite book character (Mr. McGrath made an amazing Yarvi); a Drop Everything And Read session for the whole of S1-S3. And there were fun activities in English, including a Read around the World research task, and a Design a Book Token competition in the library.

‘Chosen By Us’ books

Our S2 Writers’ Group were given a budget of £100 to choose anti-racist, diverse books for the library. This was part of a School Library Improvement Fund project, continued from last year. So far the original group members have mentored a Writing Club for S1, written book reviews, poetry, and an article for eMag ‘Swatch’, and are now taking part in stock selection, while also welcoming some fantastic new members to the Group. The new ‘Chosen By Us’ section includes these superb authors : Onjali Rauf, A.M. Dassu, Sharna Jackson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Alice Walker. We also wanted to include some authors new to us such as Danielle Jawando, Faridah Abike Iyimide, and Clare Weze.

This is still a work in progress, and will take a bit of experimenting to get the labels in the right place to not hide the book covers! As American author Kwame Alexander says “All that is good and accomplished in this World takes work and a little chaos”.

We look forward to reading and chatting together about our new books.

Happy reading, and be kind to yourself this busy month!

 

 

December/January @ St. Andrew’s

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Happy new year from the librarian and library helpers! 

After an excellent Christmas, 2024 looks like it will have a number of excellent things happening in and around the library. Today, we will give you a sneak peak of some of the many new books we have in before giving you some updates as well as our plans for February and beyond.

New Books!

Our new stock is coming in thick and fast! This month we have a number of excellent titles fresh out of the box, including these:

 

 

Refurb

The library refurb is officially underway! Unfortunately this means there will be disruptions to the library service over the next couple of weeks but we promise it’ll be worth it! We’ll be sure to throw a big party once it’s done…

Author Visits!

As of next month we will be welcoming a series of authors to come and talk to our S3s as part of a Scottish Government-funded project called Library Young Team! First up, we will be welcoming Brian Conaghan to the school on Tuesday 20th February.

Special guests at Holyrood

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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.