About the Library at Glossopdale School

The Library is a vibrant, attractive area of the school available to students before morning registration and during breaks. It is managed by a qualified and experienced Chartered Librarian so students always have the opportunity to ask for help and advice. The school works with the ethos that “Everything Starts with Reading”.

There are areas in the Library dedicated to Fiction, Non-Fiction and Reference books with a wide selection of titles and resources in each section. Every student automatically becomes a member of the Library on joining Glossopdale School.

Both the Fiction and Non-fiction areas have an extensive collection of Accelerated Reader titles to choose from at all levels. There are also specialist collections dedicated to Post 16 students and for younger users. The Library has space for whole classes seated at tables, as well as a set of computers and comfortable seating for students to use throughout the day. Students are taught research and literacy skills to support their learning.

Our resources are all recorded on our Library Management System or 'Catalogue' – Capita Reading Cloud  – this is available throughout the College wherever there is access to the internet, and is supplemented by online resources such as Issue Online and Emagazine.

The Library aims to

• support students and staff in the process of learning, teaching and personal development, through the provision of high quality information collections and related services.
• focus on developing student skills in the areas of finding and using information both in printed and digital formats.
• raise the standards of literacy through encouraging students to gain a love and enjoyment of books and reading, with the ability to reflect on what they have read 

Reading Week

We have two whole school Reading Weeks per year – the first in November and the second usually in June. Each Reading Week has a theme and an accompanying competition.

All students are expected to read from their own book, and this could be at any time of the school day. During Tutor Time, our literacy activities concentrate on the joy of a good book. Students in all years are reading books together with their Tutor Groups as a part of their Personal Development program, even when it isn’t Reading Week.

The aim of Reading Week is to make reading a focus of the school day for a full five days, and so to promote the benefits of reading for pleasure with the knock-on effects in higher attainment of readers of all ages. Each time we have a Reading Week, a different member of staff presents their take on reading by celebrating their love of books in the whole school assembly.

For a bit of fun, we have a quiz running all week. Students can take part with their Tutor Group or on their own. In addition, we highlight connections between a well-established reading habit and the breadth of a person’s vocabulary, their writing skills, their verbal communication skills, their mental wellbeing, the development of imagination and the ability to empathise with other people in other situations.

We have a slogan for each of our Reading Weeks – recently it was ‘Books Are Treasures’. Students and teachers added their ‘coins’, with some nice little reviews of books that mean something to them. So our display this time featured some timeless classics and showed how a good story can stay with you for years.

We always endeavour to encourage reading as much as possible at Glossopdale School and Sixth Form, so whole school Reading Weeks serve to concentrate our focus on the well-researched fact that the reading for at least 20 minutes a day is a good habit to nurture.

World Book Day

Every year on the first Thursday in March, we celebrate World Book Day at Glossopdale School and Sixth Form. We actually extend the reading focus throughout the week surrounding World Book Day with an inspirational reading focussed assembly and the distribution the £1 World Book Day vouchers that the World Book Day charity (funded by publishers and booksellers) provides to all school children under the age of 18.

To mark the day, we do things such as decorate classrooms with wonderful handwritten book reviews and beautifully creative illustrations of favourite book characters; our ‘big’ screens promote reading with reviews of books that staff and students have enjoyed, and many classes throughout the day on World Book Day begin with 10 minutes of reading for pleasure.

The Library always runs one of its book-themed competitions for World Book Day – This has been in various formats over the years and proves even more popular now that it promoted via Google Classroom.

Of course, we display the wonderful posters supplied by the World Book Day website, and encourage students to go out and make good use of their tokens every year.

The Library runs a fun competition for World Book Day – for example, we recently promoted 12 books which either had the word World, Book or Day in their title – we told the students a bit about how great each book is and showed the book cover with the key word missing. Books like The World of Norm, The Book Thief and The Day of the Triffids featured in the quiz. There are always prizes for the Library quizzes.

Our recent World Book Day celebrations had the theme of ‘Reading is Power’. The inspirational assemblies delivered by the English Faculty conveyed the powerful message that reading can be a source of strength to us. The books featured, and pictured below, were:

A Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan for the tenacity of its main character Christian who had a heavy burden to bear. Bunyan wrote this story even though he personally suffered periods of unfair imprisonment and so had his own heavy burden to bear.

To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, whose father saw at first hand the injustices in the legal system in America at a time when there was segregation based on skin colour. His experiences inspired her to write her powerful story that took the world by storm.

Alpha by Bessora, a graphic, contemporary novel about the reality of life as a refugee searching for a better life, and the inner power that is needed to overcome adversity.

The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir whose fight for the rights of women to find employment and live independently, without the need to be married and relying on a husband for income, has become a modern classic about female empowerment.

1984  by George Orwell, whose poor health and lack of confidence was overcome to write his often banned masterpiece.

We offer these very books for loan from the Library. Of course, we always display the wonderful posters supplied by the World Book Day website, and encourage students to go out and make good use of their tokens every year.

Library Facilities

Information Literacy: The Library offers lots of helpful advice and sessions to help you learn how to find and manage information.

Online Resources: The Library offers a range of web based information. Please ask the Librarian.

Computers: The computers can be used by individual students during their break and lunch times or free study periods. Please ask at the counter to use a computer for your work.

Study Spaces: Work tables are available for you to study and read at. Please be aware that you are surrounded by students who need the quiet and academic atmosphere of the Library to thrive.

Catalogue Staff and students can use the catalogue whenever they need to search for sources within the Library or online resources. It is web-based - just follow this link: 

https://U003886.microlibrarian.net

Enquiry Desk/ Issue Counter: The purpose of the enquiry desk is to address any queries regarding the use of the library catalogue, online resources and finding items you need within the Library. You should also change your reading books here.

Accelerated Reader

The school runs the Accelerated Reader (AR) scheme for all Year 7 students and selected Year 8 students. We have an excellent record for promoting reading using this motivational tool and students enjoy reading and quizzing large numbers of books. Students gain a reading level, choose books according to interests and ability and sit online quizzes to show understanding. Rewards and competitions further encourage reading for pleasure. AR happens during a weekly English lesson in the Library and students are set reading targets for homework every week.

Login to ARHomeConnect see your progress so far with Accelerated Reader

Library Information

Opening Hours:

Monday-Friday

8.15am – 3.00pm

 Borrowing Information:

Students: 2 books for 14 days each

Staff: Unlimited number of items, one month loan period

To make the Library an enjoyable environment for everyone, we ask all users to adhere to the following:

• No food or drink
• Coats off
• Work quietly: read, study, research, borrow and return books
• Mobile Free Zone
• No sitting on the floor
• Do not move the furniture
• Respect the resources