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.

BHCC Literary Events

The BHCC have again this year been very supportive of the library and agreed to fulfi l two wishlist proposals made by Mrs Emmett. Firstly, they funded the purchase of a number of educational jigsaw puzzles including a map of the local area and the school, as well as maps of the world and several others. There is always a jigsaw underway on the main table, laid out on the new rollaway jigsaw mat, available for any passing child or teacher to add to whenever they wish. Completed so far have been: the Human Body, the Solar System, the Periodic Table and Flags of the World.

The second request for funding made to the BHCC was for some magazine subscriptions for use both in the library and around the school, to add to the existing ‘The Week Junior’ and ‘First News’. In order to broaden the appeal, whilst supporting the curriculum in school, there are now regular copies of the ‘Aquila’, ‘Whizz Pop Bang’ and ‘Kookie’ magazines too. The spectacular new library environment also provided a great base for some literary based celebratory events such as World Reading Aloud Day and World Book Week. The series of events this year included the ‘Tiger Who Came to Tea’ party for the Pre-Prep children, a literary game of Cleudo fi nding clues around the school and a visit from local children’s author, Ally Sherrick, who spoke to all the Prep children and signed books too. 2012, I then became the Librarian about a year ago. This is my dream job. There is nothing bad about my job but the worst part of being a librarian at Barrow Hills is Monday mornings in winter when it is very cold in the Library! However, the best part is during the lunch time sessions when lots of children are in the library having fun, reading and playing board games together.”

If you could have dinner with any three people in history who they would be?

“Maggie Thatcher because she was the greatest female leader and decision maker at her time, Anne Frank because she was a great writer and so brave and Alex Danson who is an inspirational hockey player and motivational speaker.”

What is your favourite book of all time?

“That is a very, very diffi cult question as I love reading so much. A truly good book is one that stays with you long after you have fi nished, so it would have to be ‘The Silver Sword’ by Ian Serrelier.”

Meet our Barrow Hills Librarian

How did you become a librarian and is your job tougher than it seems?

“I did a course ten years ago at the Helen Arkell Centre to become a teaching assistant specialising in Special Educational Needs like dyslexia, and after being a TA in the Prep department since

By Luke (8G)