Stromness Academy Library

The school library at lunchtime has become a place where pupils can do a variety of different activities whether it just chilling out on a bean bag, doing homework, or playing board games. It can be busy with sometimes between 40 and 50 pupils in the library, averaging around 25-30 most days. Most of the activities are pupil driven – they can choose what they want to do within the bounds of what is appropriate and as long as they are not rowdy or disruptive we offer great flexibility within the bounds of a 40 minute lunch break.

What do pupils do:

• Computers for leisure (games or browsing) or work – work always has priority. Pupils may book PCs in advance if they know they need to do work.Pupils manage to find plenty of games to play, however they are restricted to those that are of appropriate age range and to the school setting (same with general internet browsing). Often they are ‘competing’ against each other in a game on an individual or team basis. Most of the time the atmosphere is of happy cooperation.

• Board games (as listed below)
• Reading for pleasure

• Writing for pleasure
• Drawing
• Homework
• Study & revision
• Research
• Chilling and chatting (hopefully relatively quietly) on bean bags and soft seating
• Dungeons & Dragons character creation, game preparation and design

• Pupil Library Assistant jobs

• Occasional pupil working group meetings (Upper Library)
• Magic the Gathering and other trading card games such as Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh)
• Nintendo switch games – often in groups with individuals or teams going against each other
• Colouring-in – a recent addition with a view to being a fun activity, yet also as a relaxing one to help relieve anxiety and stress. This is tied in with a display of books on mental health awareness.

We have some more formal activities on set days although these can be done on any day:

Monday – Miniature Painting: Mrs Sinclair, the Librarian, ‘teaches’ pupils the basics of miniature painting, and even pupils teach Mrs Sinclair. The library, due to generous donations over the years has a variety of miniatures pupils can choose from, which they can paint for the library collection, or keep for themselves, if they so wish. Some will paint up one to represent their character in Dungeons & Dragons activities we run on Tuesday after school and Friday activities period.

Tuesday – Chess & Board Games: We have several chess and draughts boards as well as Connect4, Mastermind, Topple Blocks, Ker-Plunk, D&D Board Game and Lord of the Rings Risk available. The ‘official’ session is on a Tuesday but pupils will play them most days as they are on an easily accessible shelf.

Wednesday – Magic the Gathering: MtG is a strategy (collectable) fantasy card game which has been played in the library for many years. Individuals and teams can play against each other with cards that represent monsters, spells and other effects and equipment with the aim to reduce each other’s hit points from 20 to 0.

We always welcome recommendations for activities, especially if pupil led, or suggestions for new board games – of which donations would be gratefully received. Might even look into having a few jigsaws available too.

Curriculum for Excellence

Health & Wellbeing

Mental and Emotional Wellbeing

I know that friendship, caring, sharing, fairness, equality and love are important in building positive relationships. As I develop and value relationships, I care and show respect for myself and others. HWB 3-05a / 4-05a

Social Wellbeing

As I explore the rights to which I and others are entitled, I am able to exercise these rights appropriately and accept the responsibilities that go with them. I show respect for the rights of others. HWB 3-09a / 4-09a

I recognise that each individual has a unique blend of abilities and needs. I contribute to making my school community one which values individuals equally and is a welcoming place for all. HWB 3-10a / 4-10a

I make full use of and value the opportunities I am given to improve and manage my learning and, in turn, I can help to encourage learning and confidence in others. HWB 3-11a / 4-11a

Through contributing my views, time and talents, I play a part in bringing about positive change in my school and wider community. HWB 3-13a

I value the opportunities I am given to make friends and be part of a group in a range of situations. HWB 3-14a

Relationships

I understand and can demonstrate the qualities and skills required to sustain different types of relationships. HWB 3-44b / 4-44b

I am aware of the need to respect personal space and boundaries and can recognise and respond appropriately to verbal and non-verbal communication. HWB 3-45b / 4-45b

Literacy

Listening & Talking

When I engage with others, I can make a relevant contribution, encourage others to contribute and acknowledge that they have the right to hold a different opinion. I can respond in ways appropriate to my role and use contributions to reflect on, clarify or adapt thinking. LIT 3-02a

Reading

I regularly select and read, listen to or watch texts for enjoyment and interest, and I can express how well they meet my needs and expectations and give reasons, with evidence, for my personal response. I can identify sources to develop the range of my reading. LIT 3-11a

Writing

I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I am developing my own style. I can regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience. LIT 3-20a

Technologies

I enhance my learning by applying my ICT skills in different learning contexts across the curriculum. TCH 3-04a

By considering ways to protect technological devices, I can act safely and responsibly when selecting and using different technologies to communicate and collaborate. TCH 3-08a

Here is a video of some of the curricular and leisure activities that have taken place over the last four months in the library.

S1 pupils in History do a research project on Ancient Civilisations based in the school library for four weeks. We start out by looking at note taking skills and the use of the library blog to find collated links to the topic in the LibLinks – Subjects Links page of the blog where various topics have Livebinders of appropriate websites to use.

Pupils are initially encouraged to work from the books available in the library, and supplemented by ones borrowed from The Orkney Library & Archive, doing some background reading before starting their note taking. We have two to three lessons solely focusing on the books, before pupils are given the choice of using the computers to continue their research or to stay with the books, which many do.

We are now coming to the end of the project and pupils are now typing up their notes into the final piece which is due in on Monday 2nd December.

The annual ghost storytelling event took place in the library today. It was attended by 25 pupils, and a few staff members, with other folks passing by from time-to-time. In the short time (40 minutes) that we had nine pupils and the Librarian, Mrs Sinclair told their stories. The sentient trees discussing what to do with a human they captured was particularly unnerving. A few made up their stories on the spot, with one asking for a place and a time in history prior to telling of a ‘haunted’ mountain near the great Wall of China.

Pupils were asked to fill out evaluation sheets and comment.

It was good fun!

Could not be improved.

It was really fun. Maybe if it was longer, one a Friday perhaps.

Very fun, scary stories.

It was good.

Change the day.

Do this again.

Decent stories.

More time.

Most agreed it was fun and gave 😊  or 😀 evaluations. There was agreement that the event needs more time, but we are somewhat limited to the 40 minutes we have for lunchtime, but in reality by the time folk get here, 30 minutes is the duration of the actual storytelling.

Our annual Poetry Picnic is now in its 16th consecutive year, with this being actually the 17th year of running an event to celebrate poetry and National Poetry Day. Back in 2004 the theme was ‘Food’ and the Poetry Picnic was born and in the intervening years has attracted pupils and some staff into the library to partake of snacks, their lunch, and share poetry, whether it is favourite poets or poems, or reading poems from books, or from memory.

This year a small group of regular library users and handful of staff popped by. Poems were read out from the poetry postcards which also were celebrating the UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages with poems in Manx, Cornish, Welsh, Scots, and Gaelic including the English translation. Some pupils very quickly wrote their own poems and shared them, as well as a selection from some of the poetry books selected from the shelves.

Between 23rd and 27th September, the library held a book fair. This was the first fair for a number of years, but the thirteenth we have had since our first one way back in 1997.

A book fair can be a good way to promote reading for pleasure, encouraging pupil choice from a selection of teen / young adult fiction (some non-fiction too). It can also be beneficial to promoting the library, maybe drawing in pupils and staff who maybe otherwise wouldn’t visit, as well as, if commission threshold met, gaining new stock for the school library. This time we did meet the threshold of £300, which is actually a lot for a school with a small roll like ours. Pupils were given free rein to select books for the library up to a value of around £80 and we now have a nice selection of 11 new books to add to library stock in due course.

A book fair can also support Reading outcomes and benchmarks in literacy, in particular:

Searching for information online can be very hit or miss, particularly if you aren’t being careful about your search terms. People tend to open the top few links in search results. Did you know that often the results listed at the top of a search are sponsored links? This means the company whose website is linked as paid for their site to be high up on the results list. This does not mean the ‘top’ results are necessarily the most relevant. Scroll down to avoid these sponsored links. Always check following pages of results, don’t rely on the first page.

If the teacher or librarian gives you a URL (website address) or link for a specific topic, use it – don’t just decide to go off and search for information on the topic yourself. There is always a good reason you have been given the link – mainly because it is relevant, and more importantly, appropriate to the topic you are being asked to research.

Use the LibLinks page of the Library blog – there are many Subject Links to relevant LiveBinders on topics you may come across in your studies as well as useful study, careers, and reference resources links.

Orkney Library & Archive Online

Orkney Library also provide some useful reference resources and are well worth a look, particularly the Oxford Reference group of resources to which you will need an Orkney Library membership.

You can also search the Orkney Library catalogue online, so if there are any books that we don’t have in the school library, you can check their catalogue. You can go in yourself, or arrange for Mrs Sinclair to borrow them for the school library, then you can take them out on your school library card. There is access to a wide range of non-fiction which may be useful for your studies and projects.

Senior pupils or staff requiring more specialist resources can use the Inter Library Loan service, although please be aware there is a charge for this. Again, you can arrange this via Mrs Sinclair in the School Library or go to the Orkney library yourself. Please ensure you read the Inter Library Loans page including the Acceptable Use Policy before requesting one.

At some point, somewhere in the world, a book may have been banned or challenged due to people’s perceived perception of its content. Many of the books, that have been banned at some point, are regarded as classics.

There is currently a display of such books in the library.

Banned Books Week UK

The Book Fair arrived in school last week and was set up on Friday afternoon with the pupil help. There is a selection of fiction and some non-fiction aimed at teens, as well as a box of stationery (inc. novelty pens, pencils, notebooks, etc.

The fair will run all week in the school library. Cash is accepted and there are facilities available for phone (cashless) payments via a secure phone number. Details are available at the fair.

Alongside this, there is a book cover competition – pupils can design a new book cover for a favourite book. First prize is £15 worth of vouchers to spend at the fair. Two runners up will each receive a £5 voucher. Entry forms can be collected from the school library or downloaded here: Create your own book cover. Digital art can also be accepted.