Librarian’s Choice

Very excited to be launching the first ever joint book award between the three high schools in our Trust. The fabulous Librarians over at Neatherd and Long Stratton Academies and I have each picked two each of our favorite recent reads to share with our students. The students will be getting together to share their opinions before the final vote as well as sharing reviews and questions to the authors. Here at Wymondham we hope to have Nicky Singer visit our group to talk about writing The Survival Game.

If you have read any of these books why not add your review to ours?

Looking forward to debating which book should win ahead of the announcement on World Book Day!

 

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Harry Potter Night #5

Another amazing night for the Potterheads of Wymondham!

Team “Cursed Children” flew home with the prize prophecy from this year’s Harry Potter Quiz Night. For the fifth year in a row almost 300 people came to share their love of the Wizarding World with food, treats, costume contest, butterbeer, living fountains and a full size replica phone-box for this Ministry-themed episode in what has to be one of the biggest HP events on the calendar. Of course, the fun was topped off with the most fiendish quiz delivered this year by Professor Umbridge.

 

Huge thanks as ever to the Dumbledore’s Army of volunteers, site and kitchen staff who make this event possible.

Give me a couple of weeks to recover and I’ll be looking for inspiration for HP#6. Send any suggestions by owl to Wymondham High Library at your earliest convenience!

 

Year Seven Read On

Following the Library’s transition book gifting, how fantastic to be able to gift every one of our year 7 with another book!

Students chose their read from this year’s Book Buzz selection. Thanks to BookTrust and Wymondham High for making this possible and Mrs Taylor for allowing the gifting to happen during the Y7 Celebration Evening.  Definitely inspired and just in time for Christmas!

Hola readers and Hallo!

Deliveries of new stock at this time of year always feel like Christmas! Today was the turn of Modern Foreign Languages to get an influx of fiction in Spanish and German. There is no better way to learn the vocabulary and thinking of a country than to read in their language.

 

Kids’ Lit Quiz 2018

Well, we are definitely getting better at this one!

Our fantastic teams did a great job competing in the 2018/19 Kid’s Lit Quiz Norfolk Heat. They came high in the tables but not quite high enough this time. The link below takes you to some footage from the competition and an interview with fellow MAT Librarian Lorraine Gill, organiser of the local heat.

Regardless of placing, the quiz is always a lot of fun and we will be back to try again next year. Until then year 7 are urged to just keep reading! 

https://www.thetfordandbrandontimes.co.uk/news/kids-lit-quiz-at-neatherd-high-in-dereham-1-5805059?jwsource=em

Centenary Display

With some research gathered from https//Roll-of-Honour.com the Library produced a poppy to go with the details for each individual who fell in The Great War 1914-1919 and the Second World War 1939-1945. Each poppy represented a person who had lived in Wymondham and the surrounding area and many would have been students at the school. As you can see, we filled three letters of the READ – an emotional and thought-provoking display.

Year 8 Get Creepily Creative

Welcome back to Wymondham to a great author and friend of the school, Alexander Gordon Smith. Gordon was visiting on 29th and 31st October to lead Year 8 in some Horrifying Creative Writing masterclasses for Halloween. Perhaps the perfect way to inspire and terrify students into writing…

Why not check our some of Gordon’s great books from the Library this Halloween and feel the fear!

   

Zombie Escape 2018

Every year we try to come up with ways of making the library events that little bit more. More fun, more interesting, more challenging and in the case of the Halloween Zombie Escape – more terrifying.

This is the event that we were only going to run once – now in it’s third year and thanks as ever, to our hoard of volunteers and site staff, the South Quad was transformed into a series of escape room puzzles and gross-out challenges. Students rummaged for clues though gore, ate insects, mixed potions and exorcised a year 8 (all in a days work for our brave students!) but what really got them on edge was when they were led to a rooftop blindfold and asked to hold their balance for thirty seconds on the very top of the school. Were they ever really in danger? Would we really be that sadistic to students and staff who dared take a turn? Of course not… right?

Well done to all who overcame their fear or found whole new ones – I look forward to seeing you all again next year!

 

The Christopher Edge Appearance

The Library was lucky enough this year to be able to gift every one of our new year 7 students a copy of the fabulous read “The Many Worlds of Albie Bright” by Christopher Edge. Some of our readers knew Christopher from his Minutes to Midnight books but for most this was an introduction to a new author and one who they loved by the time he came to visit.

All the students had the chance to hear Christopher talk about his books, to ask questions and to get their copy of Albie Bright signed. They had also been reviewing the book over the summer and Christopher chose a winning reviewer from each River to be rewarded with book vouchers to help them continue their reading journey here at Wymondham High.

A fabulous visit that got us all reading – thanks Christopher!

 

Next News – New Library?

There are few things so exciting to a Librarian as the idea of unpacking a box of brand new books. The smell of the pages, the feel of the cover, the discovery of new worlds and new characters  within… a treat every time. Imagine that joy multiplied a thousand times with the confirmation that Wymondham High will be building a NEW school library!

In a time when public libraries are facing short hours, reduced funding and closure, to have the school and Trust, invest in reading as a priority is both incredible and reassuring. The new facility will give the books and students room to study, read and grow. It’s a good thing school year’s pass so quickly, as an anticipation akin to Christmas has taken hold with our library loving students and staff. The new library is not due to open until September 2020 but I know that the time will fly. Part of a larger program of work across the school, work starts as soon as the last pen goes down at the end of the summer exams this year.

We’ll keep you posted on progress as the year goes on…