The Notley 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.
Our extra-curricular activities have covered a wide range of themes; from art and poetry, to multicultural and historical events. Events from previous years have included a Great Library Bake Off, where participating students won prizes in age categories and sold their cakes to donate to the Queen’s Green Canopy, a charity that provide green spaces in deprived urban areas. We’ve also marked Black History month and Holocaust Memorial day, as well as holding an art competition to help decorate our library.
One of the key events in our calendar is World Book Day. This is a celebration of authors, books and, most importantly, reading. In fact, it is 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 in our library with new competitions and quizzes every year. This year we held a Design Your Own Book Cover competition where winners received a £5 book token to spend at our book fair.
The library regularly promotes wider reading and encourages students to explore classic and contemporary literature through special events and activities. In order to coincide with World Book Day we held a Scholastic Book Fair from 8th to 14th March. This was a huge success and resulted in the school receiving almost £80 worth of free books.
This year we started our events calendar with the launch of the “BookBuzz” programme for Year 7 students. Every student in Year 7 had the opportunity to choose a FREE Book from a specially selected collection of 17 titles. So, whether you are hooked on horror, fanatical about fantasy or hankering for some humour, there was something for everyone! Students will receive received their FREE book as a Christmas present from the school library.
Other events in the academic year 2022 – 2023 included a Christmas story writing competition which was launched on the first day of last term, as well as a student book review, where students were encouraged to write reviews of their latest read in exchange for Love Heart sweets or a review of their favourite book in exchange for a badge of their book cover. Students also took part in a Readathon to raise sponsorship through reading, which will then then went to ReadForGood.org who provide books for children in hospital.
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!