School Library

Welcome to the library at St Peter’s Catholic Primary School.

My name is Mrs Porter and I have worked as Librarian at St Peter’s since January 2019.

We have a fantastic library with comfortable furniture and some amazing artwork, and we have tables and chairs so that it can be used as a class study area.

Who can use the library and what is it used for?

Children

In my experience, many children see a library as “just a place for books” and our aim is to change that perception and show them that a library is so much more. It is not “just a place for books”, it is part of school life and it is there for the children to use for pleasure and for study. The children can use it at lunchtimes and during timetabled visits by the classes. They can change books, finish home learning, read, use books for research/study or take part in one of the many competitions or challenges that we run from the library.

After School Clubs

We currently run a book club on Wednesday afternoons, for children in lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4).  The days and clubs on offer may change, so please look out for the club letter at the beginning of each term.

Families

The library is open to families after school on Tuesdays from 3.30pm until 4.00pm. We want to encourage parents, guardians and grandparents to come in with their children to help them choose new books or to just sit and read with them. This is open to ALL year groups, and adults must have a child with them.

Junior Librarians

Each year we give children the opportunity to become junior librarians when they start year 5. The children are asked to complete an application form while they are in year 4 and children are selected before the summer holidays. They are trained by the previous junior librarians and are shown how the library works and key tasks such as issuing books, shelving books, helping other children, labelling books, helping with displays and reading to the younger children. They also take part in the Hampshire Picture Book Awards by reading the nominated books to the year 1 children.

Competitions and Events

We have a large display board in the library where we advertise forthcoming events and competitions and also display any competition winners.

Each month we display on the notice board our top 10 readers (1 for KS1 and 1 for KS2), authors and book titles. We also have 4 mascots, Violet the snow leopard, Isla the dog, Owen the rainbow owl and Yago the blue owl. Each month these mascots go to the class with the highest number of children that have borrowed books from our library and to the class with the tidiest book corner.

We run lots of competitions from the library throughout the year, normally to coincide with events or dates such as Christmas, Easter, World Book Day and special events such as the World Cup and Olympic Games.  We also have regular visits from authors who come to read and talk about their books.

After School Timetable