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The Library

WELCOME TO OUR LIBRARY

     We have a fantastic selection of books, from football to fantasy, including many critically acclaimed and prize-winning      novels. The librarian, Ms McCarthy, is eager to match the right book for each pupil, and is a keen supporter of the right to    read for pleasure. 

     All pupils are members of the library and can borrow books for a period of 10 days. Year 7 pupils will also borrow a   book to be read in their English lessons. 

    Our newly refurbished library was opened by Newport born poet Connor Allen, former children’s Laureate of Wales. The library   has been named the Connor Allen Library in his honour.

        

CARNEGIE MEDAL 2025

The Carnegie Medal Longlist is released on Wednesday 12th February. We can't wait to see which of our favourites has made the list.
 

The Carnegie Medal is awarded every year for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. 

Here are the librarian's favourite books from the recently released nominations list. 

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow

Fallout by Lesley Parr

King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

 

World Book Day 2025

Read Your Way

Thursday 6th March

Every pupil will receive a world book day voucher from their form tutor. The voucher can be used in bookshops and supermarkets in exchange for a £1 World Book Day book, or to get £1 off the price of any book costing £2.99 or more. 

LIBRARY NEWS

Reading For Hope

2025 is the Catholic Jubilee - The theme is Pilgrims of Hope.
Here are some wonderful books with a hopeful theme.
Hope by Rhian Ivory
Saving Celeste by Timothée de Fombelle
A Good Day for Climbing Trees by Jaco Jacobs
No Ballet Shoes in Syria by Catherine Bruton

How to encourage reading...

Reading for 20 minutes a day has many benefits for children and young adults, including reducing stress, improving educational outcomes in Maths and English, and helping develop empathy.

It doesn’t matter if it is comics, novels, non-fiction, menus or instruction manuals … this is ALL reading. Reading from a screen, listening to an audiobook and being read to, all have huge benefits for children. If you read with your children, ask them if they understand what the words mean, teach them how to look up words in a dictionary and put new words into context by putting them into a sentence. All of these little things will help with understanding what is being read.

There are several places you can gain access to books, aside from visiting your own local library.

  • If you are a member of your local library, BorrowBox is a free service offering e-books and AudioBooks which can be read or listened to on phones, tablets or other devices.
  • If you would like to read the first chapters of a book, sign up to the LoveReading4Kids website where many of the books have downloadable extracts.
  • If you like to read reviews, try the Booktrust website, where you can search for books by age, genre or theme.

Remember:

All pupils are members of the library and can borrow books for a period of 10 days. Please encourage your children to visit the library and borrow a book to read for pleasure.