Tag Archives: school library

A good not too bad terrible news…

The school library is getting refurbished!

Me to the kids:
"I have a good, not too bad, terrible news. Which one do you want to hear first?" 😅
Kids: Terrible first.
Me: Library is closing.
Kids: 😱!!
Me: But just for 5 weeks.
Kids: But why?! 😰
Me: Because it's getting refurbished🤩
Kids: 🥳🤸‍♂️🥳🤸‍♀️🥳🤸

— St Mungo's Academy library (@stmungo_library) October 25, 2022

In October, the school informed me that the library will be getting refurbished! It was a project pending since last year and couldn’t believe it was going ahead. But this time, it appeared to be more concrete since they gave me a frame time. The work will be done in approximately four weeks.

So, I started to invite ALL the S1 and S2 classes to come in, to borrow as many books as possible. The more they borrow the less I have to pack.

This week, I'm in "refurbishment mode", encouraging pupils to borrow as many books as they want #everythingmustgo
And today, a kid took around 10 books(!😱!) and said: "I'm going to be sooo smart after reading all that" 😅 pic.twitter.com/djU326EfYk

— St Mungo's Academy library (@stmungo_library) October 27, 2022

Later, I gathered my little army of minions AKA the library helpers to organise the work and to start packing. Pupils selected books by subjects to then been delivered in every department of the school:

"So it begins."
The library assistants organised books by subject for them to be delivered in each and every department base.#refurbishment #organising #packing #library #helpers pic.twitter.com/sZcpYYVTaA

— St Mungo's Academy library (@stmungo_library) November 1, 2022

The rest of the books were packed in boxes to be kept in a storage room:

And that the non fiction done 💪
My little army of minions #libraryassistants are doing amazing 👏 pic.twitter.com/fDBi68EeKY

— St Mungo's Academy library (@stmungo_library) November 3, 2022

The library helpers did an amazing job! In less than a week the whole library was packed!! We celebrated by having a small cupcake party:

We did it!! We packed up the whole library in a week 🤩 This would not have been possible without the help of the fantastic library assistants 💪#bigup #youresuperstars #celebrating #end #packing #library #refurbishment #not #possible #without #libraryhelpers ❤ pic.twitter.com/cVFovqP2Fh

— St Mungo's Academy library (@stmungo_library) November 4, 2022

The library cleared, the real work could finally start:

Workers started!! 🧑‍🔧🦺🛠#Sneakpeek👀 #library #refurbishment pic.twitter.com/YTU537XtrW

— St Mungo's Academy library (@stmungo_library) November 15, 2022

I’m really looking forward to welcome pupils and staff back into a beautiful new brand library!!

#Breakingnews: it appears that it will take more time than announced…Keep posted!

November updates!

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Welcome back to the Gaelic School blog!

We have had a lot on recently, with more to come in the coming months. Check back here for news on author visits, Book week Scotland and other library-related news.

Storytelling for Mental Health

We are finally underway with our Storytelling group! Over the course of the school year, our group will be engaging in various storytelling-related activities including games, crafts, reading and much much more. Aside from mental health, a key theme of the group is ‘diversity’. We will be giving updates on what the group have been up to here, so don’t miss it!

For our first session, we got everyone to pair off, tell each other an amusing or interesting story about themselves and the other had to re-tell it but be…economical with the truth. It was a lot of fun and we had some excellent stories. As with every session, we get the pupils to describe how they are feeling in one word at the start and end by scanning a QR code (pictured) and entering it into a linked form.

Book Tok display

Introducing our new permanent display: Book Tok! Come down and find some of the top trending books and authors.

St. Andrew’s Wee Write trip!

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Class 1.2 have been excellent users of the library this year. So to reward them, we thought we’d arrange for them to meet a real life author at the Wee Write festival in the Mitchell Library!

We went to a talk/workshop by writer Alex Malarky and, needless to say, everyone had a great time. We listened to Alex talk a bit about her book, including a short reading, and our young people even got the chance to create their own adventure story!

We’ve been a bit quiet recently due to exams going on in the library but please do return for more exciting updates!

Wee Write! @ the Gaelic School!

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This year, the school were involved in two Wee Write! events!

For the first one, we had Johan Nic a’Ghobiann visit the school to give a talk to our S2s:

We also went with our S1s to the Mitchell for an event with illustrator Chris Mould who talked about his new illustrated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. He also gave us plenty of tips to improve our own drawing skills.

(apologies for the poor quality photos!)

Watch this space for my exciting updates next month!

LGBTQ+ History Month @ Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu!

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Hi and welcome to our LGBTQ+ History special!

As you can see, we have displayed some excellent books which deal with LGBT themes or feature leading LGBT characters or protagonists. Some are more ‘obvious’ than others, but we hope there is something for everyone here!

Thanks to the LGBTQ+ group for their suggestions! There were some that even caught the librarian off-guard! We have put up some posters (see below) of some of their recommendations. If you can’t find them in the library, most are available on the Libby app (email gwmcgregormark@glow.ea.glasgow.sch.uk if you need more info on this!). We are always looking for more recommendations so please get in touch if you have any that haven’t been mentioned here.

The next update will be for World Book Day on March 3rd. We are hoping to have quizzes, giveaways and much more!

February @ St. Andrew’s!

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Hi everyone! Welcome to our first full month of normal service!

This month is LGBT History Month and we have a display of some great books which relate to LGBTQ+ issues or contain LGBTQ+ characters and protagonists. It’s a very eclectic mix and some are more ‘obvious’ than others, but we hope that there is something for everyone. Plus, there is a free rainbow bookmark with every book borrowed!

This month also brings us Languages Week Scotland as well as International Mother Language Day so what better time to set up our new Community Languages Section! We have a number of new books in French, Polish, Italian, Spanish and Arabic (most of which didn’t last long before pupils snapped them up!). We are hoping to have more in the not-so-distant future but we reckon this is a good start! Also special thanks to our EAL group for creating a new multilingual. ‘Welcome’ sign for the library.

3rd March is World Book Day and we have lots of exciting things planned, including a book cover competition, a book swap and much more. Our next update will be a WBD special so keep your eyes pealed!

Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!

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Welcome back to the Glasgow Gaelic School blog!

2022 will hopefully bring us an array of exciting events and updates to the library. We have been working with the Art department in adding a bit of colour and beauty to the library and have decided to use the space to showcase some pupil artwork. As you can see below, there are some excellent examples here:

We have also been working with the pupil-led school magazine, who have their weekly meeting in the library on Thursdays. There are lots of great things coming out of it and the young people are doing a great job of contributing and organising. If you are interested, please get in touch with me on gw19mcgregormark@glow.ea.glasgow.sch.uk and I will p ass this onto the magazine’s editor, Sophie (S6). Also, look out for the library segment for more updates and reading recommendations!

January 27th also marks Holocaust Memorial Day. A day on which we draw attention to and raise awareness of the Holocaust and all genocides across the world. We have set up a display of related books (below) which we will leave up for the next few weeks. Also, check out the Glasgow School Librarian eMag for further reading!

Next month will be LGBT History Month and we hope to bring you further news, recommendations and happenings in the library. See you then!

Happy New Year from St. Andrew’s!

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I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and found time to relax with a good book!

We have largely been closed since we came back from the break to accommodate prelims. However, we can still provide books! Aside from reintroducing the class boxes – a bespoke selection of books for each class – we are also bringing back our click and collect service. Click on this link, fill in the form, and collect your book!

Alternatively, we have QR codes dotted around the school and also on our Twitter page which will also take you to the form.

There are also vast selections of eBooks and Audiobooks available on Libby and BorrowBox – both of which are available on your iPads. You’ll need your library card number or your PIN, so if you don’t have those then email me at gw19mcgregormark@glow.ea.glasgow.sch.uk

More updates in February where we will be back up and running to full capacity plus the return of the Manga Club, the EAL reading group and other exciting events!

Holyrood Library – Summer Term

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Thank you Helpers!

Here’s a round up of some of the fun we’ve had in May/ June:

Most days start with a “Good Morning” on library Teams. We check in with each other and make sure everyone is having a good day.

We enjoyed fun quizzes for ‘Earth Day’, and ‘Oceans Day’, finding out which animals each of us resembles!

On Empathy Day we chatted about empathy and how we can look out for each other. We put up a book display of Self-help books, and recommended our favourite authors.

“I recommend self-help books because it does a lot of good for my mental health and self-esteem. I really like the author Fearne Cotton. She uses examples that I can relate to” (S3 Pupil)

We made a Book display for Euro 2021, and prepared books to give to our visiting P7 pupils.

Our Library Helpers have been fantastic, whether helping with book displays, activities, or just chilling out with friends,

Thank you so much to everyone who has borrowed books, helped out either in person or on library Teams or simply just been there for company. Thanks also to Laraib and Fiza our Duke of Edinburgh helpers. You have all been amazing!

Can’t wait to see everyone next year and have even more fun.

Bon Voyage!