Library

Welcome to the Library web page.  The opening hours for the Senior School library are:

OPENING HOURS
8.00AM – 4.00PM
4.00 – 6.00 PM – STUDY

Mission:

The Library exists to provide materials and resources to support pupils and staff in the process of learning and teaching, as well as their cultural and recreational needs.
 
The school librarian is Mrs. Barnard who is dedicated, enthusiastic and always available to provide help and advice on choosing the most appropriate resources for implementing effective research & study skills.
 
"I really like the atmosphere in the library because it is fun and comfortable to do homework in or read." Anna, Year 7
 
Resources:
  • Over 7000 books for loan
  • Daily newspapers
  • Monthly periodicals
  • CD & DVD collection
  • Revision Aids
  • Educational games
Environment:
The Library interior is adorned with beautiful stained glass windows and stimulating topical displays. Motivational posters are complimented by classical music and floor cushions.
 
 
Support:
The Headmaster, staff, pupils and parents all provide strong support and are encouraged to participate in the daily activities as well as numerous special events.
 
 
Membership of Professional Bodies:
  • School Library Association
  • Education Library Service
  • Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
 Objectives:
  • To provide a curriculum focused information collection that will support all subjects.
  • To procure and revise stock regularly.
  • To closely liaise with teaching departments to meet school curriculum aims.
  • To develop pupil’s research skills.
  • To foster information skills through formal classes and informally at the point of enquiry whenever possible.
  • To provide materials which encourage and challenge pupils to extend literacy through reading for pleasure
  • To devise means to inculcate the enjoyment of reading. 
 
 
All new girls and staff attend a Library Induction session. 
The Librarian encourages girls and staff to suggest new titles to add to stock.
All girls and staff are encouraged to take part in numerous Library activities. 

 
 
Reading Lists:
Autumn 2010: Please click on the link below to view the reading lists for Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 provided by the English Department.
 
Useful Links
 
Authors Back Old Classics
A list of the best children’s books has been compiled by the five people who ought to know which ones to choose - the UK’s children’s laureates, past and present.
Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, and current Laureate Michael Rosen revealed their choices, and between them they demonstrated a preference for the old classics.
 
Only five of the 35 books chosen were published in the last 20 years, while a fifth were released in the 19th century. The oldest book was Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, which came out 170 years before the newest title, 2008’s Mr. Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton.
The most popular authors, with two picks apiece, were E Nesbit for Five Children and The Railway Children. Robert Louis Stevenson for A Child’s Garden of Verses and Treasure Island.
 
M Morpurgo who was children’s laureate between 2003 and 2005, said of Treasure Island: “This was the first proper book I read for myself. Jim Hawkins was the first character in a book I identified with totally. I was Jim Hawkins. I lived Treasure Island as I read it. And I loved it. Still do. Wish I’d written it!”
Other names that made the grade include Monty Python star Terry Jones, for his 1981 book Fairy Tales, and Oscar Wilde for The Happy Prince.
 
 
The Chosen Books
  • Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone (1936)
  • Queenie the Bantam by Bob Graham (1997)
  • The Box of Delights by John Masefield (1935)
  • Rose Blanche by Ian McEwan and Roberto Innocenti (1985)
  • Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1902)
  • Snow White by Josephine Poole (1991)
  • Stuart Little by E.B.White (1945)
  • The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1963)
  • Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell (1978)
  • Just William by Richmal Crompton (1922)
  • Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson (2001)
  • Lavender’s Blue by Kathleen Lines (1954)
  • A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (1885)
  • Sword in the Stone by T.H.White (1938)
  • Five Go to Smuggler’s Top by Enid Blyton (1945)
  • Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton (1939)
  • Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1838)
  • Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (1902)
  • A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear (1846)
  • Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)
  • The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (1888)
  • Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868-9)
  • A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)
  • What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge (1872)
  • The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett (1937)
  • The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (1906)
  • Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (1936)
  • Mary Poppins by P.L.Travers (1934)
  • Clown by Quentin Blake (1995)
  • The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)
  • Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner ((1947)
  • Not Now, Bernard by David McKee (1980)
  • Fairy Tales by Terry Jones (1981)
  • Mr. Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton (2008)
  • Daz 4 Zoe by Robert Swindells (1990)
 
For additional information contact the Librarian at liliana.barnard@themaristschools.com
 
 
“ Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors”.
 
Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719) English writer and statesman
 
 
 
“School libraries form an absolutely vital part of every child’s education, and it is essential that they are protected, expanded, diversified, and enriched… They are nothing less then rooms young people enter in order to discover the world.”
 
                                                                                                                                                     Sir Andrew Motion, Former Poet Laureate