The main school library aims to foster a lifelong love of reading and learning. Throughout the year, the library holds a number of themed activities and events to promote literature, reading and a passion and enthusiasm for learning.
This year, the library will continue to support the Accelerated Reader (AR) Programme. The library celebrates students’ achievement through the AR 100 Percenters Board; every student who achieves 100% on an AR quiz will have their name put on the AR 100 Percenters Board and be awarded prizes at the end of each half term. Our top ten Word Count students board is also updated every half term. Students who achieve 80% and above will receive postcards home to let parents and carers know how well they are doing.
Our extra-curricular activities have covered a wide range of subjects, topics and themes; from Art and baking, to multicultural and historical events. Events from previous years have included a celebration of Chinese New Year, an author treasure hunt, sponsored Readathon and the creation of our Holocaust Candle, acknowledging the names of some Holocaust victims to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
The library regularly promotes wider reading and encourages students to explore classic and contemporary literature through special events and activities. We completed a Scholastic Book Fair on 14th March and recently decorated the library with some fantastic GCSE art work. Last summer saw us celebrating the Jubilee in style with a huge Bake Off which had a fantastic amount of student entries. We then sold all of the fabulous cakes and donated the money to the Queen’s Green Canopy, a charity that do amazing work to preserve native woodland and create a more sustainable future.
One of the key events in our calendar is World Book Day, held this year on 2nd March. This is a celebration of authors, books and, most importantly, reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world. This event is celebrated annually at Notley library with new competitions and quizzes every year. This year we held a Design Your Own Book Cover competition – our winners each got a £5 token to spend at our book fair and have their entries displayed in the library.
Our next event will be the very first Bridge Academy Trust Book Awards. We have spent the last few weeks promoting the awards during library lessons and now, with such a healthy sign up, we are ready to hold our first meeting at the end of March. The awards will culminate in an awards ceremony at Moulsham High School, where students will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite from five shortlisted books.
The Notley library encourages all year groups to take part in the events. The activities are designed to encourage students to actively engage with the world around them, to explore new subjects and topics and, most importantly, to have fun!