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St Roch’s Reads: April

Pupil Reads: Steady for this by Nathanael Lessore

This month some of our pupils have been reading through the Yoto Carnegie shortlist titles and sharing mini-reviews. Here are Roya’s thoughts on Steady for this by Nathanael Lessore. Find out about the other shortlist books available in the school library here.

Q: Tell me about the book, but don’t give away the ending!

The book is about a boy who wants to be a rapper and then a big twist happens. It is a book about racism and lifestyle. At first you might not like it but at the end it’s a nice and smooth going book.

Q: Tell me about your favourite part of the book

When he meets a new friend who doesn’t know about his embarrassment and sticks with him till the end.

Q: I recommend this book to anyone who likes..

A nice, easy going, romantic comedy.

Q: What would you like to ask the author?

What would you do if your mum exposed your dirty laundry to the world, live? ?

World Autism Acceptance Week 2-8th April

Autism Acceptance Week is a yearly event planned around Autism Acceptance Day It aims to help more people understand what autism is and how it can affect life for people. It also highlights and celebrate the achievements of autistic people past and present.

Reading books is a brilliant way to develop understanding and share life experiences from many perspectives. Along with information books, there’s a great range of fiction books written by or about people with autism, available in the school library. You can get the full list on our library Padlet page here.

Eid

Earlier this month Muslim people around the world celebrated Eid, marking the end of Ramadan and 30 days of fasting. It is one of the biggest festivals in the Islamic calendar, celebrated with family, friends, food and prayer. We put together a collection of books by Muslim authors to mark Ramadan and Eid, which you can find on our Padlet page.

You can borrow any of these from the school library, just ask at the desk.

Lucky Dip

St Roch’s pupils have a great reading culture, with library visits and personal reading time built into English classes. Pupils regularly visit us regularly for new reading material, but sometimes they can find it hard to choose something. Our library assistant Ava had a great idea to help pupils who just can’t decide- a Lucky Dip book box!

How does it work?

We chose a range of different books we thought pupils would enjoy, non fiction, quick reads, comics and all types of fiction genres. Then Ava made up tickets with the book title and 3 word descriptions. Now pupils who are stuck can take a ticket from the box and bring it to the desk to get there lucky dip surprise read. It’s worked really well with our regular class visits. Well done Ava for a great idea!

Keep calm and carry on-through-exams

It’s exam time for our senior pupils! This time of year can be very stressful few weeks, so it’s extra important to take care of yourself and your mental health. There are lots of books that can help you manage stress/anxiety and find a little bit of calm. Check out some of these books on the Stress Less book display, available now in the school library. Well done to the library assistant team for putting this together.

April @ Castlemilk Highschool

What’s happening this month..

World Autism Acceptance Week: 2-8th April

Autism Acceptance Week is a yearly event planned around Autism Acceptance Day. It aims to help more people understand autism and the experience of autism. It also highlights and celebrates the achievements of autistic people past and present.

A kind of spark by Elle McNicoll

Kind of Spark tells the story of 11-year-old Addie as she campaigns for a memorial in memory of the witch trials that took place in her Scottish hometown. Addie knows there’s more to the story of these ‘witches’, just like there is more to hers.

Can Addie challenge how the people in her town see her, and make her voice heard?

Finding my voice by Aoife Dooley

Frankie is different, and so is her best-friend, Sam. So when they both start secondary school, it’s tough.

When she gets the chance to compete in a Battle of the Bands contest Frankie couldn’t be more excited. Except, to have a band, you need to have band members. And to have band members, you need to be good at making friends… Can Frankie learn to find her voice and stand out?

Ways to be me by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott

Tally had high hopes for Year 6.Being in the top class at school means a whole host of privileges, and even better than that is the school production But at home, things aren’t going so well. Mum and Dad have been making Tally feel pressured and upset. Sometimes she feels so misunderstood and frustrated, she could explode! Then Tally’s mum and dad tell her about something she’s never heard about before. Something called autism. And everything changes.

Exam Season

Image by Freepik

It’s a busy and stressful time for our senior pupils, as they begin their exams this month. It’s extra important to look after yourself and your mental health during these kinds of stressful times.

There are lots of books and ebooks available from the school library to help with managing stress, anxiety and finding a wee bit of calm in the chaos! Browse our ebook collection, ‘Young Minds – Mental Health and Wellbeing’, in the Teen section of Overdrive and Libby.

You can also download digital practice papers in lots of exam subjects. Browse the collection on Overdrive here or search for ‘SQA’ in Libby.

Good luck to everyone starting exams next week!

New books

Finally we’ve got lots of lovely new books in this month! There’s a great variety of genres so plenty to choose from. Here’s a few of the highlights we think will be first off the shelves.