The City of London Academy Library
Reading, Research and Resources "What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it thinks about education." Harold Howe, former US minister for education
The City of London Academy Library
240 Lynton Road London SE1 5LA Phone: 020 7394 5100 The Library: 020 7394 5108 E-mail: ltaylor@cityacademy.co.uk Brochure compiled by R. Liles, June 2008
Laura Taylor BLib MScEcon MCLIP SLG National Committee Academies Lead Practitioner Librarian Rebecca Liles BA Graduate Trainee Library Assistant Julia Martin Library Assistant
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THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY
THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY LIBRARY
Reading, research and resources: The school library’s contribution to learning. “The school library is the heart of a school, which itself has learning at its core and good libraries can empower the learner.” Ofsted “The extent to which a school library can effectively meet the needs of learners and educators within the school is determined by the levels of collaboration with the rest of the school community.” Start with the Child. CILIP. Report 2002
Frequently Asked Questions What are the library’s opening hours? Monday—Thursday 8.15 a.m.— 5.00 p.m. Friday 8.15 a.m.— 2.00 p.m. After school staff are available to support students with homework. ♦
How many resources do you have in the library? We have over 11000 resources in the library; these include nearly 10500 books, as well as a selection of DVDs, CDs, newspapers, magazines and periodicals.
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How many books can each student borrow? Each student can borrow three items for a period of two weeks.
“Improvement was most likely to occur under the leadership of a well trained , specialist librarian...The best librarians show great initiative in promoting the library and enthusing pupils about reading.” Good School Libraries : making a difference to learning, March 2006
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“The way to get children reading is to leave the library door open and let them read anything and everything they want.” Terry Pratchett
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“My vision of learning for children and young people in the future, has the library, in all its forms, at its heart.” Professor Tim Brighouse “Libraries have a positive impact on academic achievement… and the broader aspects of student learning including Motivation.” DfES Critical Review, Phil Jarrett, HMI
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What happens if I am late returning my book? We do not fine students for the late return of a book. We issue reminders via form tutors and letters home.
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How many people visit the library each day? On average 350 people, including staff and students, visit the library each day—during lessons, breaks, lunch time and after school. Our busiest time of the day is lunch time and because we are so popular we have to limit pupil numbers to sixty. How many staff do you have in the library? We have three members of staff including a qualified Librarian and a Graduate Trainee.
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How many items have been borrowed? On average we loan over 10000 items a year.
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National Projects
THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY LIBRARY
Learning Environments Before:
After: A Library developing resources fit for an Academy. CoLA students accompany the Librarian to meet the Prime Minister in Downing Street and launch the National Year of Reading 2008. Every year the library facilitates the government’s Booked UP project in which each new Year 7 student receives a free book.
“The school librarian is a teacher whose subject is learning itself.”
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THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY
Community The Southwark Schools’ Book Award: A Reading Project for Year 6 and Year 7. CoLA students and pupils from our feeder primary schools participate in drama workshops. They post reviews on the website and compete with other schools in a grand finale quiz. Prizes are awarded for the keenest readers and best reviews.
THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY LIBRARY
Every Child Matters We have a team of Year 8 and 9 pupils who are our Student Library Assistants. They learn how to issue, return and shelve resources. They also develop skills in leadership, customer service and team work through these roles.
All students are welcome to apply for these positions of responsibility at the beginning of each term.
The challenge is to read all six books! Check out the website: www.southwarkbookaward.org.uk
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We recognise the pupils’ achievements and contribution to wider school life through certificates and rewards presented in assembly. They are valued members of the library team.
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THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY
Our Students’ Futures The Library Resources Centre stocks a large range of study skills books and revision guides.
THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY LIBRARY
Literacy CoLA Reads: Staff and students across the school celebrate World Book Day with the BIG Read in March.
Sixth form students complete library inductions and learn how to research effectively, produce bibliographies, correctly reference their work and avoid plagiarism. We also stock undergraduate prospectuses for sixth form students use and up to date careers information is available through the library intranet page.
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Every student receives a ÂŁ1 Book Token and these can be exchanged at the book fair for one of the special World Book Day titles.
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The City of London Academy is proud to have been awarded the Highly Commended Prize as a Reading Connects School of the Year 2006—2007.
THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY LIBRARY
Keen readers are congratulated in their fortnightly library lessons and praised for their effort.
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Star Readers’ Quizzes Passed • Ryan , Wael, Charlie Mustafa 4 • Sandra, Tayo 5 • Erin 7
• Rachel 21
Every time a student scores 100% on a quiz their name goes into a prize draw. They have the chance of winning a special prize.
“Reading is a window to the world.”
May 2008 Students in 7B have passed over 100 quizzes. Well done! Number of Quizzes Passed
Year 7 Star Reader Quizzes Passed 120 100
106 94 83
76
80 60 39
37
36
36
7D
7E
7F
7G
40 20 0 7A
7B
7C
7H
Tutor Group
We also award prizes each year for the keenest readers in each year group. “We learn to read and then we read to learn.”
Students’ points from each tutor group are also added together and each form competes to win a team prize at the end of the academic year.
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THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY
Star Reader At CoLA we use Accelerated Reading software to monitor, motivate and reward students’ reading in Years 7 and 8. Over 1000 titles in the library are “Star Reads” which means once pupils have read the book, they can take a quiz on a computer anywhere in the school. Students earn merit points every time they pass a quiz. When they have passed five quizzes, they can choose a star reader pen or highlighter as a reward. The merit points also tie in with the school’s reward system.
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Literacy: Boys into Books Manga is a popular choice. These comic style books are Japanese and the visual format is particularly appealing to boys.
Students have also had the opportunity of working with a professional cartoonist to develop their drawing skills. Our Star Readers recommend their favourite titles to other students which promotes a reading culture across the student body.
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Literacy: Reading Buddies “No single place at school is more important in developing reading than the school library.” Paul Kropp, The Reading Solution
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The National Year of Reading 2008 is a celebration of words in every form. It brings together initiatives from schools across the country, from public libraries, and from booksellers and authors. It aims to create a powerful focus upon the benefits of reading for pleasure. OECD “Reading for Change” 2002 found that “Being more enthusiastic about reading and a frequent reader was more of an advantage, on its own, than having well-educated parents in good jobs”.
Year 10 Reading Buddies volunteer to share their love of reading with younger pupils.
Year 7 and 8 pupils improve their literacy by reading with their buddy twice a week before school.
They participate in a training session to develop their understanding of literacy difficulties.
The theme for June is ‘Reading Escapes’. We are asking pupils to write a short story with the title of ‘My Great Escape’.
In September we will working with the Drama department on a storytelling project for Year 8.
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Reading themes and initiatives
THE CITY OF LONDON ACADEMY LIBRARY
Literacy: Celebrating Reading—Book Week The highlight of the library calendar is the culmination of events in Book Week.
The Library Resource Centre engages pupils throughout the academic year using monthly themes and national initiatives. National Poetry Day, Roald Dahl Day and Black History Month are used as a focus to challenge pupils. We encourage them to try a new author or explore the experiences of people from different cultures. We also promote reading through other departments. Premier League Reading Stars are great role models for some reluctant readers and so we have mounted a football themed display in the P.E. Department.
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Every year CoLA celebrates the joy of reading through visits from popular children’s authors and storytellers. We have the authors’ books on sale for students to purchase.
Book Week events also include a book fair, quizzes and
Students are also able to purchase books from the Scholastic Cover to Cover magazine each month.
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Information Literacy across the Curriculum We collaborate with all departments to support teaching and learning across the curriculum. Students are encouraged to develop their independent learning skills and become proficient at selecting and using appropriate information sources both book and ICT based.
The library staff are knowledgeable and experienced educators who can help in raising levels of achievement. A number of faculties liaise with the library to develop research based units of work using the library’s resources and expertise: History Year 9—Most significant historical figure Science Year 7—Animals and Planets Art Year 7—Kate Greenaway picture book award Geography—Year 8 Volcanoes Year 10 and 11—Coursework in Science and Sociology Year 12 and 13—Plagiarism, referencing, bibliographies, internet search strategies, web 2.0
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The Library Resources Centre plays a key role in developing students’ information literacy skills. We teach the skills of skimming, scanning, note taking and critical evaluation of websites. “Information literacy is the ability to locate pertinent information, evaluate its reliability, analyse and synthesise the information to construct personal meaning and apply it to informed decision-making.” Pam Berger, School libraries – Making a difference (DfES/www.schoollibrariesadvocacy.org.uk, 2004) All Year 7 students develop basic research skills through a three part induction. They learn the layout of the library and how to locate a book using the library catalogue Eclipse and map. We use Fronter Virtual Learning Environment as an online forum to discuss new books, authors and events, provide access to the library catalogue at home and at school.