This year, Glasgow is celebrating an incredible milestone: its 850th anniversary! Across the city, people are reflecting on Glasgow’s long and fascinating history, and we wanted to make sure our students had the chance to take part in the celebrations too. At our school libraries, my colleague Markie Deleavey and I put together some special activities to help pupils learn more about the city they live in: its culture, landmarks, and stories.
Markie created a brilliant activity booklet that students have really enjoyed. It’s full of puzzles, including crosswords, famous Glaswegians and landmarks, and even a section on Glasgow slang. The booklet was designed to make learning about our city fun and interactive and it’s certainly worked!
To go alongside the booklet, I added an activity based on the comic Beats of War by Etienne Kubwabo. The story follows a superhero who arrives on Earth in search of a way to save his home planet from robot invaders and while here, he discovers the power of music. The comic is set right here in Glasgow, and it features several recognisable city landmarks. Students were encouraged to read the story and see if they could spot places they knew.
At St Mungo’s, pupils also created a colourful display showing all of Glasgow’s subway stations, with the nearest libraries and bookshops marked at each stop. They helped choose books set in or about Glasgow, adding them to Markie’s fantastic visual booklist for everyone to explore. Creating this display wasn’t just creative, it also helped pupils build their research and literacy skills while learning more about their own city.
Over the last couple of weeks, our S1 and S2 classes have been coming into the library to take part in a quiz and challenges that test their knowledge of Glasgow. It’s been wonderful to see how engaged and enthusiastic they’ve been asking questions, sharing what they know, and having fun in the process.
These activities have been a great way to celebrate Glasgow’s 850th birthday and remind us all how school libraries can bring learning to life. We’re proud to help our students connect with their local heritage, build new skills, and find joy in reading and discovery.
