Tag Archives: pupil-led

Book Group @Holyrood Secondary

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

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!

What We’re Reading @Holyrood

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This month in the Library, our young people highlighted two special events: – Holocaust Memorial Day, and World Hijab Day.

Our S3 Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers made a book display for Holocaust Memorial Day.

Readers from S1 & S2 classes chatted about what they’ve been reading, and here are their recommendations :

S1-S3 pupils’ booklist

We discussed the importance of books and films, as there are now very few remaining survivors of the Holocaust, making it more important than ever that their voices be honoured and saved for future generations.

On 1^st February we celebrated World Hijab Day. Our book display included authors and book characters who proudly wear the hijab, including Ayaan Mohamud, A.M. Dassu, Tahereh Maafi, Hiba Noor Khan, & S. K. Ali.

Our Rights Respecting Schools pupils did a tannoy announcement, and explained all about the origins of World Hijab Day, founded by Nazma Khan. While making our book display, we chatted about Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad (who has written several books), and ballet dancer Stephanie Kurlow. We all want to see more library books showing better representation of hijab wearing, so we did some research on this, and have ordered some exciting new titles.

The lovely artwork is by Evelina and Brenna in S5.

Reading for pleasure

Lorraine, at her Waterstone’s book launch

I went to the book launch of ‘The Island Swimmers’, and met Lorraine Kelly at Waterstones bookshop. It was lovely to meet a TV personality who is such a passionate supporter of books and reading. Can’t wait to read this, as I’ve been to Orkney , where the book is set, many times, and it’s a place that I love (although I’ve never been wild swimming!).

Coming soon….

‘Reading Schools’ gifts from Scottish Book Trust

We have lots to look forward to in March including World Book Day, lots of reading, a good bit of book partying from our young people & staff, and more great work from our Reading Schools leadership group. Happy reading!

Plans for 2024 at Springburn

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2023 was a busy year in the library at Springburn Academy with the library being reorganised into genre sections. The library assistants have been reflecting on the library and what improvements they could make during 2024:

‘l love Springburn Academy’s library! It gives us a safe but fun space for reading, eating and chatting. I feel the library would be better if it was less busy so I could shelf books easier without climbing over S1s but other than this the library is a wonderful place and I’m so glad to have it in my school.’ KA (S2)

‘I love the library because Colin is really nice and supports me even when I get into trouble in class. I would say there should be a limit on how many people come in at a time because it can get so busy people can’t move around the books’ JK (S3)

‘The library can be peaceful and is full of nice and friendly people. I want to make more displays because the huge variety of books makes it hard to pick sometimes’ MK (S1)

‘I like the library because it’s easy to socialise with people and it’s always fun and occasionally calm, sometimes I think the library would be better if there was a day when only people wanting to read and use it as a library were allowed in!’ YX (S2)

‘The library is a very safe place where you can enjoy seeing your friends, I would like to make the library better by opening it all week!’ LMC (S1)

‘I like the library because it is calm and not scary like the rest of the school so obviously I would like it to be calmer and less busy during breaks like it is during class time’ CR (S3)

‘Here is what I think is good about the library: It’s very friendly. It’s social. Not many rules. Colin is nice and supportive. Places to sit at the back. People to talk to. All ages allowed and we all mix together. Here is what I would change: More seats available. No running. Make it bigger. A quiet area to study separate from where I eat my lunch’ AR (S1)

Plans for 2024 at Cleveden

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2023 was one of the most eventful years yet at Cleveden and the Library Assistants have been busy in January planning how to make the library even better in 2024:

‘I love working in the library, it’s usually so peaceful and chill. In 2024. In 2024, I’m going to work on making the library more relaxing because it can get a bit crazy sometimes’ HT (S2)

‘I love working in the library, it gives me a sense of comfort when other things get too much. I like the library’s peacefulness. Putting books in order and putting them on the shelf keeps me more active than PE! I like the sounds the books make when I put them on the shelf so in 2024 I hope to do that more often’ LL (S2)

‘The library is an amazing place and I still enjoy working as an assistant. In 2024, I plan to work on making more creative posters and displays and to keep asking Colin for more jobs to improve my skills as an assistant because I am proud to be part of the library!’ AW (S2)

‘I love when the library at my school is open because when our librarian is here I have someone to talk to. I wish it was open more. Working in the library gives me the opportunity to take on lots of responsibilities, I would like to do more book sorting and labelling in 2024 because I don’t like when the shelfs get messed up. And it’s so obvious that the more work we do, the better our treat/pay is on a Tuesday. Hopefully Cake Pops for writing this?’ KC (S2)

Christmas @ St. Andrew’s

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We hope everyone is looking forward to some well deserved time off over the Christmas Break! In the meantime, here is our display (complete with possibly the smallest Christmas tree in the school) of some of our Christmas and Winter-themed books to tide you over, all hand-picked by our library helpers:

Thanks to all the staff and pupils at St. Andrew’s who have continued to support the library and we hope to have an even better 2024 complete with a shiny new library!

End of term fun, Holyrood Library

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The holidays are coming – time to celebrate the work of our amazing Library volunteers before we head off for a well-earned rest. They’ve worked tirelessly to promote reading and make the library a friendly and welcoming place. Whatever you need, the library helpers will be there for you!

Senior helper evaluating books to keep

R. in S5 has used her I.T skills to master the library management system (Spark) and now adds in new stock, can search the catalogue, identifies old books to be weeded and comes up with excellent ideas inspired by her love of reading.

Surrounded by books

S6 pupil book recommendations

C. in S6 shares book recommendations, is always up to date with new releases, and is a life-long lover of books. She balances this with a busy S6 schedule, often studying in the library after school.

Our Duke of Edinburgh S3 Volunteers bring fun to our lunchtimes. S1 loved their design a Christmas Tree, & Elf Hat activities. It’s been a privilege to see a special bond grow between S1 and S3. So far 120 pupils in S1 have completed the Christmas Reading Challenge, run in collaboration with Community Libraries.

Lunchtime competition for S1

S1 Helpers at work

S1 Helpers also do a great job, running the issue desk at intervals and lunchtimes, coming up with games & colouring in, and encouraging everyone to borrow books.

S1 pupils enjoyed our special writing competition for Book Week Scotland. This competition was pupil led and inspired by award winning author Lindsay Littleson’s book EuroSpies. The mission was: “Write a job application to become a Spy” Some great entries. Lindsay thought they would definitely get the job!

A last thought as we’re doing our Christmas shopping – good to consider how important books are not only for enjoyment but also for wellbeing and achievement. Research by the Scottish Book Trust explains that “access to books at a young age allows children to flourish” and “Reading for pleasure is the biggest indicator of a child’s future success” https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/articles/the-importance-of-book-ownership

Here’s a lovely personal memory shared by one of our sixth year pupils, about the importance of books.

Well done everyone and Happy Christmas !

Bannerman’s new library helpers

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pupils writing the book genre inside the book

We have some new library helpers among the S1 pupils! This group of kids walked up to the librarian asking if they could help with anything, because they were bored… well surely there is a lot to help with, as the junior fiction has been recently divided by genres! So, pens at hand, they helped the librarian write the genre of books in the first page. Hopefully they’ll keep being this keen to help, because with about 1,815 books in junior fiction alone, the librarian cannot do this all by herself! #teamworkdreamwork

pupils writing the book genre inside the book

Holyrood Anti-Racism Library

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S6 pupils at Holyrood Secondary organised an Anti-Racism outreach library in the fuel zone. This event promoted anti-racist, diverse books, in a friendly setting – many young people and staff stopped to browse, chat and borrow during their lunch hour. The books were selected from the school library and included biographies, travel and culture, and fiction by authors of all different nationalities and cultures. Huge thank you to our S6 Anti-Racism Leadership Group for organising and making this such a fun lunchtime! Well done to our S1 helpers too, for taking over during BGE lunchtime.

October is Black History Month. Well done to Miss Porch’s S1 class, who took great pride in choosing books about black scientists, sports people, politicians and celebrities for our BHM book display.

Our Holyrood Family is made up of young people from 44 different countries, speaking 62 languages (and counting!). We enjoy celebrating our many different cultures, with books and events in the library. Our library stock is developing to better reflect the diversity of our school community. New ideas on how we can do this, are always welcome.

October Book Recommendations

Librarian’s choice:

The Happiest Man on Earth: Author, Eddie Jaku survived terrible cruelty in the Nazi death camps. This is an incredible book about hope, courage and friendship that helped him survive.

Student’s Choice

Planet Omar, by Zanib Mian: Good for fans of ‘Wimpy Kid’, Omar with have you roaring with laughter.

Happy Reading!

September @ St. Andrew’s

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We’re back for another school year and have lots of things to update everyone on!

Library move/refurb

After our move to English 4, we have moved again! This time to a much larger space. We are currently awaiting a full refurb of the library but once this is done, we look forward to bringing back our full programme of clubs and events – no less the Manga Club! Watch this space for updates.

S1 Inductions

September was a month for meeting and getting to know our new S1s. It was great having them down for their library inductions and there were a lot of keen readers amongst them.

ProQuest/GALE sessions

We are already underway with our research skills workshops as Advanced Higher Drama got their first ProQuest/GALE/Oxford DNB session of the year. We are hoping to continue this with both Social Subjects and English classes next month.

Next Month

October will see us continue with our class borrowing periods for all S1 to S3 pupils and work with S6 paired readers. As the new S1s get their iPads, we are looking to begin Libby/Borrowbox sessions to promote our online resources. October also marks Black History Month (UK) and we will have a pupil-curated display in the library to mark this.