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Librarian: Mr R. McDonald BA PGDip ILS
The college has libraries on both campuses. Each library contains a wealth of information resources for both teachers and pupils to assist and enrich the learning experience. As well as a vital providing study and research facilities, the libraries have an extensive stock comprising books, newspapers, periodicals, videos, DVDs as well as internet-linked computers. A strong emphasis is also placed on reading for pleasure and each library has a large stock of fiction books.
The total number of books held across both libraries is around 12,000 and these are constantly being updated through new purchases. All pupils are encouraged to make as much use of the library as possible, for both study and leisure purposes. Out of class time, each library is extremely busy at both break and lunchtimes and many pupils use the Richmond Library after school.
The Richmond Library
The Richmond Library is a modern, purpose built library on the Cranmore campus. Open from 8:30am until 4:30pm each day, pupils have opportunities to access resources at any time. As well as providing resources for both staff and students, the library is a pleasant environment for personal study or a bit of quiet reading. Busy throughout the day, Year 13 and 14 students us the library daily during study periods; other classes also visit regularly to research topics outside of the classroom. The extensive resources held here are aimed at students from years 10 -14, with extensive collections aimed to directly support the curriculum at both GCSE and A Level.
The following resources are available:
* Fiction books
* Non-fiction books
* Reference section
* Newspapers
* Magazines
* Computers
* CD-ROMs
* DVDs
* Videos
* Audio Books
* TV & DVD player
* Photocopier
The Richmond Library also hosts several clubs in school during lunchtimes. On Tuesdays the Chess Club is held here, every other Thursday the senior Classics Club meets and every Friday the library’s own Pageturners Club meets. Pageturners is a literature based club where we meet to discuss and share our love of books, have quizzes and watch films of popular book adaptations. We have also participated in the Carnegie Book Award shadowing event which involved reading the short-listed titles, sharing reviews with other schools on the Carnegie Award website and voting for the club members’ favourite book. We have also taken part in other events such as the ‘One Book Project’. As well as these regular groups the library has also hosted events such as author visits and book fairs in recent years.
The Junior Library
The junior library on the Richmond Campus caters for the needs of pupils in years 8 and 9 and this is reflected in the range of materials stocked. All Junior School pupils have a scheduled class in the Library once a fortnight. Here they have the opportunity to expand their appreciation of literature as well as learning how to make the best use of library resources to assist their learning in the classroom. As well as these classes the library is open at break and lunchtimes giving all pupils ample opportunity to visit and avail of the resources.
The following resources are available:
* Fiction books
* Non-fiction books
* Reference section
* Newspapers
* Magazines
* Computers
* CD-ROMs
* Audio Books
* TV & DVD player
Library activities held during the school year in the junior library include:
* World Book Day events
* Author visits
* Book Fair
* Competitions
Pupil Librarians
The librarian is helped by a team of volunteer pupil librarians. Pupils from year 9 onwards can volunteer to help in each library and their assistance is greatly appreciated by all. Pupil librarians are trained to operate the library computer system, answer queries from fellow students and staff and help with other duties such as photocopying at break and lunchtimes. Their library work experience may be extremely useful to them on leaving school – many pupil librarians have used their experience to land much sought after jobs as student librarians at university.
On Thursday 29th January the popular teenage author Sophie McKenzie visited Victoria for an event with Year 9 pupils. Sophie is the author of the books Girl, Missing (winner of several awards including a Richard & Judy Book Award and the Red House Book Award), Blood Ties, Six Steps to a Girl, Three’s a Crowd and The One and Only.
Sophie talked to the pupils for nearly an hour, explaining her motivation for becoming an author and explaining how she develops the plots in her book. She then answered questions from the pupils before signing some copies of her books.
The event proved extremely popular with all who attended and we are extremely grateful to Sophie for travelling from her home in London to be with us..
On Monday 9th March acclaimed storyteller and author Dr Pat Ryan visited the college. This is the third year that Pat has visited the college and again he inspired everyone lucky enough to hear him. Pat spent the morning telling stories and riddles to all of the Year 8 classes. After lunch he conducted a workshop with our creative writing group ‘Shakepeare’s Sisters’.
Pat Ryan was born in Illinois, USA but has been based in London for the last 25 years. A renowned storyteller, he travels the globe telling stories, lecturing, leading workshops and undertaking residencies on storytelling. He is a post-graduate research fellow at the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling at the University of Glamorgan. Pat is influenced by the folklore of Britain, Ireland, and America and incorporates these traditions into his performances. His tales take the forms of legends, rhymes, stories, myth, riddles, and word play which create a unique and engaging style.
Library Book Fair 10th-13th March
As part of our World Book Day celebrations, the college library is again hosting a book fair for Year 8 and Year 9 pupils.
Our book fairs are always extremely popular as they give pupils a chance to buy some great books at very reasonable prices. The library also benefits as we receive commission, in the form of new library books, for every item sold at the fair. Last year our book fair sold over £1000 worth of books, for which the library received over £500 of free books. |
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