Tag Archives: Pupil volunteers

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!

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!

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.

 

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!

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!

New Books at Holyrood Library

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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

 

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!

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!

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.