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Senior School Library
Cover Story
In January, year 7 girls were treated to a visit from staff at Richmond Library Service, promoting the ‘Cover story’ initiative. ‘Cover story’ is a compilation of books that are likely to be of interest to pupils in the 11-14 age range. Colm O’Reilly and Jess Green took turns to recommend different books and to read passages from a few of them. All the books have been published in the past 18 months and were selected as being appealing to young teenagers.
Books from different genres were chosen; including the humorous ‘The Real Rebecca’ about a mother / author who wrote a diary based on the antics of her daughter Rebecca (much to Rebecca’s humiliation!) In contrast, they mentioned ‘The taming of Lilah May’; a sad book about a family’s reactions on the disappearance of their daughter. This book is based on entries from Lilah’s diary, discovered by her zoo-keeper father and circus performing mother after Lilah’s disappearance.
The discovery of a diary was also a key event in ‘The hunting ground’ by Cliff McNish was the book that generated most interest, girls asking for a second passage from it to be read. This is a scary thriller about a father and sons who move to an old crumbling haunted house in which the boys find a diary about the history of the house and its former residents…. children who died before adulthood … what does this presage for the boys?
The girls were told about the facilities available to them through Richmond Libraries and a Teen Manga Group, held at Teddington Library. Full details of this and other services, plus a competition to win an HMV voucher by writing a book review are available at:
http://www.richmond.gov.uk/libraries
If your daughters are not already members, why not suggest that they enrol now?
Emma Doran (7c) wrote:
“I enjoyed the library visit and I liked most of the books read. I found the cover story leaflets quite useful because it has helped me to look for new releases and books to read. I also found out about many of the resources (e.g. computers) the library has to offer, overall I found it a very informative experience.”.
Mrs J Ruffle
Senior School Librarian
Award Winning Local Author Visits
St Catherine’s
St Catherine’s was delighted to welcome to the School in celebration of World Book Day, Thursday 3rd March, Jason Wallace, winner of the 2010 COSTA Children’s Book Award.
The author spoke about the journey he had taken to publication, enthralling pupils from Years 7 to 10 and providing great inspiration to the eager, budding young writers who packed the Hall as well as a real insight into his craft.
“Out of Shadows”, Jason Wallace’s debut novel, has been described as “stunning…without a false note” and being so “powerful, it changes the way you think”.
By his own admission, Jason Wallace set out to write a challenging novel which captured the tension of the political turmoil of an African nation in the immediate aftermath of a war of independence. He spoke with passion about his determination to create believable, three dimensional characters by drawing upon his own experience of Zimbabwean boarding school in the 1980s.
At the end of the talk pupils enjoyed a really interesting and instructive question and answer session with the author who then kindly dedicated and signed copies of “Out of Shadows” in the library which forms part of the new Sixth Form extension to the School.
Mrs J Ruffle
The library at St. Catherine’s School is a busy and well used resource. It is a welcome retreat for pupils who come to get ahead with their homework or simply to choose some reading for pleasure.
Facilities
The library provides a variety of resources for pupils and staff:
- Access to over 8,000 books comprising Non-Fiction to support the curriculum and independent learning and Fiction to support pupils’ own reading for enjoyment
- Access to a selection of newspapers and magazines including The Times, National Geographic, Spectator, Flipside and Newsademic, a fortnightly international newspaper for children
- Access to Weblinks, an online resource giving access to over 8,000 educational websites
- Access to a number of networked PC’s (with internet access) and a printer
- A dedicated Careers Area, containing guides to GCSE options, further education choices and various professions, together with a comprehensive range of University Prospectuses. A careers computer programme KUDOS, is also available. KUDOS training is given to year 9 pupils as part of the curriculum
Opening Times
The library is open every day from 8.30am to 5.00pm and a librarian is available throughout this time to assist pupils and staff
Borrowing Rights
Most books are available for loan. Pupils may borrow up to 3 books at a time for 2 weeks. Books can be renewed if they haven’t been reserved by another pupil. Pupils can reserve 2 books at one time. A fines policy is in operation for overdue books.
As well as supporting the curriculum, the librarian actively encourages reading development and independent learning by running a programme of user education and events promoting literacy such as Author visits. This year’s author was Gillian Cross. Previous authors have included Jamilia Gavin, G. P. Taylor, Bali Rai and Marcus Sedgewick.
