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The Library Following the fantastic refurbishment of the Prep Library during summer 2019, funded by the BHCC, the school has been making great progress and use of the space ever since. During the first half of the autumn term, the school took on a dedicated parttime librarian, Mrs Emmett. This enabled there to be enough resource for all of the fiction books to be alphabeticalised and put back onto the shelves, with a number of duplicates and some of the more dated or damaged titles sent to be recycled. There are over 3,000 fiction titles in the Prep Library alone and these have all now
been catalogued onto an electronic library system as well, making it easier to find books, log them in and out, and assist children to find specific books. A number of other initiatives designed to assist the children in making better use of the library fiction space have also been implemented, with some key shelf symbols added to denote specific genres of books like witches and wizards, football and animals, and many more. In addition, there are two new giant bespoke display boards that are now used to celebrate books and events and keep the children informed and entertained.
Once all the fiction was in good order, a start was made on the non-fiction area. The children have a huge number of books at their disposal, shelved in a short form of the Dewey system categories to assist in finding specific topics, and these now fill the whole of the second side of the library. This process has also allowed the pinpointing of areas that need to be expanded, such as The Environment and Wellbeing sectors. The successful Usborne book sale in March assisted greatly and over £600 of free books were chosen to spread around the libraries in the school, and to fill some gaps in our library categories. Mrs Emmett has created a Library Amazon Wishlist that parents may access at any time if they are keen to donate to the library.
Lunch time clubs Three times a week, the Prep library is open to children from Years 3 to 8 to come up after lunch and spend quality time amongst the books – this has created some great collaboration opportunities. The library space is available purely for fun pursuits, just as if the children are still in the playground; no homework to be done as there is a lunchtime opportunity for that elsewhere! The idea is that children who prefer indoor activities such as reading, playing board and card games, doing jigsaw puzzles or colouring and drawing have a comfortable, welcoming place to go.
