Tag Archives: pupil helpers

Holyrood Secondary – Reading Schools Gold Award

Leave a reply

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.

Holyrood Library : Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers

Leave a reply

Our Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers have been doing fantastic work, promoting books and reading, creating book displays, organising fun activities, along with regular admin tasks like adding books to stock.

Milly in S3 has always been an avid reader.

Milly Recommends:

“Percy Jackson is a fantasy book based on Greek mythology. It’s a story about a boy who discovered he is a demigod (half god and half human) he gets sent to this camp for demigods where he finds out that monsters are after demigods, He gets sent out on a dangerous quest. These books are in a series of 5 AND the new tv series just came out on Disney +. If you enjoyed the descriptions, then I have donated 4/5 of the books to the library.”

New copies!

Now on Disney+

“Reading has dramatically changed my way of writing in English, I can see the difference in my writing for over the years from when I started reading. It’s also a very fun way to pass time with the right book” Milly

Celeste – helping the school community

Celeste is now in her second year of volunteering, on course for the Silver Award. She has previously created a whole new Music Section in the library, added new stock into the catalogue, and tidied and squared up the layout of the library after a busy day of classes. A highlight was assisting the Scottish Ambulance Service every week, by helping them with their equipment for the Saving Young Lives workshops. This was a huge task, and usually involved several trips up and down the lift with precious cargo of equipment. Paramedics Sharon and Frank were so impressed by Celeste’s commitment and reliability.

Amna – supporting young learners

For her Bronze Award, Amna developed skills in supporting and encouraging S1/2 library users, who often enjoyed the fun quizzes and activities she devised. This term for Silver Award, Amna came up with the idea of creating an inter-active Animal book display, with paw prints to colour in. Animals are very popular with S1, and Mr Mansefield’s class used the book display to help with research for a class project. Fun and educational !

Animal books, with paw prints

Zurie – Creative Writer and book lover

As a published author herself – with the White Water Writers’ Group – Zurie has plenty of knowledge of what makes a good book. During her volunteering time she has created book displays, and helped to keep the library catalogue up to date by adding new books, deleting old titles, and choosing books to be purchased for our Dystopian book display.

What to Read for New Year book display

Chosen by Us (S4 Writers Group), Dystopian

Filza – graphics and design specialist

Continuing onto Silver, after completing Bronze, Filza uses her design skills to make posters and whiteboard signs for special events such as Book Week Scotland, Earth Day, and the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Ceremony in December 2025. Her posters always add style to our library events.

 

Holyrood Library Round-up

Leave a reply

Spring is fast approaching. Time for a quick round-up of what we’ve achieved so far this year.

In January, library activities focused on the Sustainability Team’s Reduce, Reuse and Recycle campaign. First up was our pop-up Eco Library in the fuel zone. We like to make books accessible to everyone, so even if you can’t make it to the library – the library will come to you! Library Helpers made a fantastic effort to transport this brilliant selection of books to the fuel zone, and a lunchtime of browsing and borrowing was enjoyed by many.

Next up was our extra special Book Swap, rounding off January in style.

The aim of these two events was to encourage everyone to borrow and recycle books instead of buying. It’s an absolute pleasure to be part of the school’s programme of Eco- events, led by the Sustainability Team & Miss O’Donnell. Holyrood has just been awarded a second Eco-Schools Green Flag, a fantastic achievement by all.

‘Book Valentine’ display, by Hajrah, Hania & Umme

 

In February, we got romantic, with a Who Will Be Your BOOK Valentine? event. Nominations for favourite books included : Twisted Love, Diary of a CEO (which Umme has just finished reading – great choice), Harry Potter, Timmy Failure, Dear Evan Hansen, and A Girl Called Owl. Well done to our Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers for organising this.

 

 

Date or no date on Valentine’s Day? It doesn’t matter – you’re never alone in the Library : “No matter what happens this week; No matter what you see or feel or think or do: I want you to know that in this World – you will always be loved” (exerpt of poem by Ana, S5).

The librarian is reading :

Does public speaking send you into a frenzy of worry? Stay cool, calm, and collected with ‘How to Talk so People Will Listen’ by Lizzie Waterworth, and remember – we’re all rooting for you and want you to succeed.

Happy reading, and have a fantastic World Book Day on 6th March!

Ms Kindness

New Books at Holyrood Library

Leave a reply

We’re off to a great start in 2025, with a treasure trove of new books to enjoy, and expert helpers on hand to sort through deliveries, and create beautiful book displays.

Thanks to Angel and Zurie from the S3 Writers’ Group, who selected their favourite Young Adult novels, focusing on diversity and Inclusion  (complete with Christmassy tinsel)!

Recommended By Us, Diverse & Inclusive fiction

They labelled the books with a ‘Recommended by Us’ slip, as this works well in bookshops, and we like to guide readers to choose books that they will love.

 

 

 

 

Recipes from around the World

 

 

We also have a fantastic selection of cookery books featuring recipes from around the World, reflecting the wonderful multiculturalism of Holyrood. Two favourites are A World of Flavour and Recipes for Change

 

October @ Holyrood Library

Leave a reply

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

 

 

 

You Said – We Did @ Holyrood Library

Leave a reply

It’s been an exciting first month back – getting to know our new S1pupils, ordering new books and sorting through deliveries. Best of all has been seeing our keen readers borrow their first books, and the delight when they realise there is no limit to the number of books that can be borrowed (other than what can fit into your schoolbag)! With new books arriving regularly, there will always be great choice of both old favourites, or something completely new to try.

In June, 70 members of our outgoing S1 took part in a Library Survey. This was a goldmine of information, showing what’s been going well, and where improvements could be made. Here’s some examples from the survey:

You said Get more Dork Diaries & Wimpy Kid. More comics.

We did Ordered more comics, including Marvel, DC, Bunny vs Monkey, Star Wars.     

Our funny Diary & Joke books are now all shelved together in a clearly labelled special section to make them easier to find.

You said Have a rule to get people to talk quieter. No loud music. Have more of a chill out spot.

We did  Our quiet, Autism – friendly lunchtime now runs on Wednesdays. No phones, low lighting and quiet activities only. On other days, Librarian & Pupil helpers do a walk round and make sure everyone is being considerate and mindful of noise levels.

Quiet time to chill out

When asked ‘What do you like to do in the Library?’ the most popular answer was Chill out with friends, closely followed by Read, and Do Homework.

 

S1 Helpers planning activities

 

“The library is already amazing and I love spending time there”

All your comments are so valued! We’ll continue to have regular customer surveys to keep improving, and display all your suggestions and the corresponding actions taken on our ‘You Said – We Did’ giant whiteboard.

The librarian is reading …..

Apple and Rain, by Sarah Crossan 14 year old Apple is having a difficult time with bullying, and events at home. A favourite teacher encourages Apple to read poetry and write her own poems. Writing helps her to find her voice, face some really difficult family problems and bravely seek help. I loved this book.

Reading can sometimes seem trivial when you’re faced with difficult events, but the right book, at the right time can be a lifeline. Any time you’re feeling a bit down, why not pop into your school or community library and have a browse. There will always be friendly staff on hand to chat, and you’ll not leave empty-handed. Happy reading!

Ms Kindness

Summer Reading at Holyrood

Leave a reply

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

April @ St. Andrew’s

Leave a reply

We had loads on this month, including our final author visit as part of the Library Young Team – SLIF project (funded by the Scottish Government). We also have a new club, the rebirth of an old one plus the establishment of a School Library Council.

Graeme Armstrong at St. Andrew’s!

This month we were delighted to welcome Graeme Armstrong, author of the highly acclaimed The Young Team, to the school as our final LYT author.

Hes poke about his book and the ‘story behind the story’ which included some emotional and also inspiring aspects of his life growing up as a gang member and how he found his way out.

 Our S3s were absolutely captivated and our only five copies of his book went just moments after the talk concluded.

Games Club!

Our pupil helpers have established a new board and card games club! This will be on every Wednesday lunchtime and pupils have the chance to play any of our board and card games available in the library. We are hoping to add more

Other news

Thanks to our librarian colleagues who selected some bonus books from Waterstones for our schools. The selection at St. Andrew’s has gone down a storm already and provides the pupils with plenty of new books to keep them going until the summer holidays!

The Manga Club is also back! Due to popular demand, the club will take place in Ms. Glass’ room right across the corridor from us. I will be working with the pupils who organise the club to provide new reading material, games and activities!

On Tuesday (30th), we had our inaugural Library Council meeting. Unfortunately due to being off on study leave, our senior members couldn’t make it but our younger contingency came up with some excellent suggestions. Some exciting changes coming soon!