We are blessed with so many things in our Primary School at Werribee, one of which is the library.
Now that we have the separate K-2 space, I wanted to explain how the library is working for all students so they can experience the pleasure that God has given us in borrowing books and learning to love to read.
All children in the Primary school experience one library lesson for 50 minutes per week., and there are two types of libraries for us. The main Library is in the center of the school and we have a portable Library for Kinder, Prep and Year 1 students.
The Main Library
The main Library is open for the second half of lunch for all Year 3-6 students. Students can go in to read, play quiet board games, do puzzles and, of course, borrow books.
The main Library is shut at recess and before school, but there is also a window for borrowing after school until 3.45 pm.
To borrow a book, students must have their library bag, have returned all outstanding books and have enough room on their accounts to borrow more. Each year level can borrow a different amount of books, and they can be borrowed for up to two weeks.
The Library is constantly getting new books – every week in fact! If your child has a particular book they are interested in, they can request the book via the Library forms.
To reassure parents, our Librarians, Louise, Beth, Hannah, Amy, Chloe and Cherie, moderate all books carefully. Books are chosen after reviews and guides have been consulted and then much thought is given to which age group to place them. To name a few, we have a wide and balanced collection of graphic novels, series, non-fiction, picture fiction, funny, adventure, mystery, family and science fiction.
From Year 3 upwards, children can be library monitors, where they learn to scan and put books back one lunchtime a week. Again, there is a form for this.
The Portable Library
Kinder cannot borrow books, but they have a great selection of books in the rooms to look at that are from the library.
For the Prep and Year 1 children, we have a portable Library that children can borrow from. The collection is changed regularly, and the rules for the portable Library replicate those of the main Library.
Children in Year 2 walk to the main library to have the full library experience from a young age.
Our desire is that children develop a love of reading. Research tells us the more children read, the greater their chances of doing well academically. The more children see their parents reading, the more their children are likely to read. While reading manga and graphic novels might not be your preference, all reading is still reading and this is ok. Students are still practicing reading pictures (which is a different skill), words, and learning the format of a story.
Should you have any questions about the Library lessons, please email or speak to Anne Gloger, Mary Donnan or Kemi Aibinu.
In other news
I would also like to draw your attention to the road rules surrounding the College. Traffic is flowing much more freely now, thanks to many strategies put in place, but we still have some parents who stop on the side of Derrimut Road, or on the nature strip, and their children are exiting the car. This is dangerous, holds up traffic and is illegal (see Vic Roads law). We also see parents stopping at the roundabout in the Creative Arts car park. Again, this is dangerous as it holds up traffic and is illegal.
Please support us in ensuring all traffic rules are followed to keep children safe at our school.