Library News
A round up of the events that have taken place in the library in the Summer Term 2024
It’s been a busy term in the library, with a variety of fun events!
Achievements in Reading
Well done to Princess Lewis 7A and Ilayda Acun 7K who have both been awarded a Reading Achievement badge this term. Princess was awarded her Silver Achievement in Reading badge for reading and reviewing 25 library books and Llayda was awarded her house Achievement in Reading badge for reading and reviewing 10 library books. Both have received house points for their efforts too.
All students can take part in the library’s Achievement in Reading challenge, so if you’re interested please go and see one of the librarians who will be happy to show you how to get started.
We won a signed book for the library!
Miss Harris recently entered a competition to win a signed copy of the brilliant book ‘Crossing the Line’ by Tia Fisher, and won!
The author, Tia Fisher sent the book with a lovely personal note to our students.
Crossing the line is a beautifully written and gripping verse novel tackling the important issues of County Lines recruitment and how easy it is for all kinds of young people to be lured into gang activity.
A recommended read for students in year 9 and above (adults too).
Available to borrow from the library
Mental Health Awareness Week
It was Mental Health Awareness week from 13th – 19th of May. This was a perfect opportunity for the library to showcase the books we have in our ‘Shelf Help’ section. See our recommended reading list from that week showing a small selection of the books we have on the subject of health and well-being.
Winner of our termly draw
Every term we put the names of every student that has submitted a book review on Accessit into a draw. Congratulations to Madison Lee from 7BRN whose book review was randomly picked. Madison has won herself a £5 book voucher. Well done!
Who will win our next draw? Make sure you submit your book reviews on Accessit for a chance to win.
Children’s Book Awards – book testers needed!
The Children’s Book Award is the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children. PHSG is lucky enough to regularly receive brand new books (published 2023/2024) that need reading and reviewing. The reviews and scores that our students give these books really make a difference and account towards the overall result at the end of the year.
We always need students to read and review these books so if this is something that your child would be interested in, please ask them to come and speak to one of the librarians.
See below the books that won last years award, voted for entirely by children. Dread Wood by Jennifer Killick was a very popular choice with the students testing last year. We have a copy available to borrow in the library for anyone interested.
NEW Super-Readables
The library staff have listened to student feedback during their reading lessons and one thing that was mentioned a few times was that some students, after a period of absence from reading, didn’t know which book to choose to get them back into the habit of reading. They didn’t want anything too heavy-going, but instead a shorter story or something that could engage their interest straight away. We have put together a list of books from the library that we feel meet these criteria, including verse novels and graphic novels.
This list will be available on the library section of the website very soon, but in the mean-time see the poster on next page for this terms’ ‘Super Readable’ suggestions.
Amongst the books in our Super-Readables section are some Barrington Stoke books that have a dyslexia friendly layout, typeface and layout.
Who said it? Taylor or Thomas
Amongst all of our displays in the library this term, the most popular with students and staff by far was the ‘Taylor Swift or Thomas Hardy’ competition. Students had to guess whether the quotes on the board were lyrics from singer Taylor Swift or quotes by famous novelist and poet Thomas Hardy.
In the library next term…
Empathy Day June 6th – activities in the library and sharing books we have in the library on the theme of Empathy.
Bakes for Books Bake sale – to raise money to buy some lovely new books for the library.
June is Pride month – an opportunity for us to celebrate all the wonderful LGBTQ+ books we have in the library through displays and book discussions.