Library

At St Andrew’s College Preparatory School, we are proud to have a well-resourced library facility that meets the needs of all our young readers.

Library Collection and Circulation In 2021, over 600 new books were added to the Preparatory School Library collection, including the latest releases from popular series, and plenty of new and exciting books from both local and international authors.

This investment in our collection ensures elevated levels of reading engagement among students: • the volume of books issued to students and staff during 2021 was greater than that observed in 2020, with a total circulation figure of more than 26,000 items; • the most remarkable change observed was the circulation of our graphic novel collection which doubled compared to the previous year, with over 2000 items borrowed. This reflected the level of investment made in this area and the popularity of the format, especially among our less able readers; • picture books continued to be extremely popular with all readers, including staff. Just over 7700 were issued in 2021; • novels and first chapter books were also popular with 5300 and 4717 issued, respectively; • over 3600 non-fiction books were issued during this period, a slight increase on the 2020 figure. A particular focus for 2021 was the development and growth of our New Zealand non-fiction collection, in order that the Library can support the introduction of the New Zealand Histories Curriculum in 2022. Authors and publishers are now beginning to respond to the growing demand for these resources and as 2021 ends we are beginning to see the effects of this; we now have a more up-to-date and student focused New Zealand collection.

Readership of eBooks and audiobooks through the school’s digital library facility (SORA) altered during 2021, perhaps reflecting the slightly shorter period students spent offsite engaged in at home learning. The total number of eBooks and audiobooks borrowed decreased compared to 2020, however the number of students reading on SORA increased, as did the average amount of time spent reading. The implication is that the collection now perhaps better reflects our readers. Again, SORA supported readers worldwide with a wide selection of free resources which we were able to make available to students through our online platform.

Library Instruction Programme The Preparatory Library was able to continue to deliver both Reading Engagement and Information Literacy Teaching programs during 2021, including the learning from home period.

Pastoral Care The Library continued to be a vibrant hub for the school during timetabled library sessions, before school and during the lunch break.

The number of students who regularly chose to visit the Preparatory Library at lunchtime is evidence of how much the facility is valued, especially by those who can find the playground a little overwhelming. As many as 50 students used the Library regularly during the lunch break, with numbers sometimes reaching 70. Art activities, board and card games ensure the Library is a lively space at lunchtime, with many opportunities for socialising.

Additional Programmes • Wide Reading: The Wide Reading programme continued to be popular in 2020. Nearly 40 students gained their Gold Wide Reading Award in 2021, with additional students achieving Silver and Bronze Awards. • Kids’ Lit Quiz: During April eight of the most enthusiastic

Preparatory School readers represented St Andrew’s College in the Canterbury heat of the 2021 International Kids’ Lit Quiz.

A total of 47 teams competed for the title of Canterbury champion,

and St Andrew’s College placed in the top 12. Both the national and international finals were cancelled this year. • Author Visit Ruth Paul: During Term 2 the Preparatory Library hosted author and illustrator, Ruth Paul, to share her stories with our Junior and Pre-school students. Ruth is an amazing talent producing around 25 books so far, she had everyone captivated and her sessions were very well received. Thanks to Read

New Zealand Te Pou Muramura for facilitating this visit. • Book Week: Unfortunately Book

Week was affected by the lockdown during Term 3 and had to be cancelled. Some of the planned activities still went ahead once students returned to school. These activities were incorporated into class library sessions and included a scavenger hunt, a design a bookmark competition, and the always popular interclass book quiz. The students enjoyed the week but were disappointed that we were unable to host the full timetable of events. • Book Fair: Our Annual Scholastic

Book Fair was successful selling over $5000 worth of books and stationery; this provided our school with over $1800 worth of credit with Scholastic

New Zealand. This was an amazing achievement given the restrictions that we were operating under, both onsite and with the reduced level of support that Scholastic were able to provide. These funds will be used to support the Wide Reading programme in 2022.