Tag Archives: Welcome

There’s a new Librarian in town!

Blue dragon wearing glasses and holding book, sitting on top of pile of books. Text: In a world of bookworms be a book dragon,

Artist: Katie Tholke

I’ve been spending the first few weeks here at St Margaret Mary’s and St Oswald’s getting to know the Library and the school. With all the S1 inductions complete, I can properly introduce myself here on the Library blog!

My name’s Kathleen O’Neill, and I’m in the Library on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 8.45am to 4pm. You can visit the Library at interval and lunchtime, but please have your snack/lunch before or after your visit. Pupils in S1, S2, and S3 will also have regular opportunities to visit the Library during English classes.

A little about me – when I’m not here, I’m at Lourdes Secondary in Cardonald, but you can always send me an email at gw16oneilkathleenmar@glow.sch.uk. I am owned by three cats. My favourite book genre is fantasy fiction, including books like The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien, the Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. My all-time favourite book is Possession by A. S. Byatt, which is about two university lecturers researching two Victorian writers, and solving the mystery of the relationship between these writers. It goes from university libraries to the wild coastline of Brittany in France, going back and forward in time, with lots of fairy tales, poems, romance, and Celtic mythology all coming together. I started playing the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons about 6 years ago, and over the years have tried out other RPGs as well. If you are a Stranger Things fan, you’ll almost certainly know about D&D.  Basically, you make a character – you could be an elf, a goblin, a wizard, a warrior – and go on adventures with other characters made by your friends. The decisions you make decide what your group’s story will be. Since I started playing, I’ve been a druid, a cat wizard, a medium in 1920s America. I’ve been killed by vampires, and I’ve flown on a griffon. Since October 2019, I’ve been running a very popular Role-Playing Games at Lourdes.

You can follow the Library on Twitter. If you would like to create something – a book review, a story, a poem, some art – for the Glasgow School Libraries magazine Swatch, please let me know. Here are some previous issues: Autumn 2022 and Summer 2022.  You could also share your creations through this blog.

Artist: Munashichi

The most important thing that you need to know about the Library is that it is your space. It’s full of books that you like to read, and you can help me with the book shopping list by giving me your suggestions and recommendations. It’s a place to visit with your friends to just sit and chat, to do your homework, to make new friends, to get some quiet time. If you would like to volunteer to help out in the Library, come along and we’ll chat about your ideas. If you have an idea for a club, a celebration, an event, a book display, I can’t wait to hear all about it.

Looking forward to seeing you in the Library soon!

Kathleen (Librarian/Book Dragon)

Back to school, welcoming our new Ukrainian friends!

Welcome to our school!

St Mungo’s Academy, like many schools in Glasgow, has welcomed new pupils from Ukraine this year.

To help our newcomers to settle in our school the library was part of a “welcome committee”. On the first day, we welcomed the pupils and their families for a morning coffee chat in the library so they can begin to be familiar with the school and meet key staff. We talked about the education system here in the UK and at St Mungo’s, gave them their uniform, and offered them a wee tour of the school along with their new timetable.

For the occasion, the library helpers and S6 pupils got ready a beautiful welcome banner:

ImageImageImageLater on, the whole school displayed visible symbols of welcome around the school site.

The induction period

The first week their timetable was specially designed to know them, their interest, strength, and talent as well as their English level but most of all it was about nurturing, budding, and befriending.

So we had a lot of ice breaker activities in the library along with music, dance, math, and literacy (classroom language essentials, keywords…) fun classes.

Image

Image

Image

Image

After this week, they were confident enough to join the mainstream classes.

A few days after something happened in the library during lunch break: pupils were downloading apps to better communicate with their new Ukrainian classmates.

Image

I wish our newcomers success, to make new friends, and to enjoy their journey in St Mungo’s Academy.