Library
The importance of libraries can’t be overstated. Libraries don’t just provide people with books to read for fun, they provide people with the opportunity to develop critical thinking and information literacy skills, they’re a place to find community, they connect people, and they level the playing field, allowing everyone to have access to the resources they need, regardless of who they are.
We’re very lucky at Stretford High School to have our library at the heart of our school, a welcoming, inclusive place in which all students can borrow books, study and revise, use the computers to complete their homework, and engage with any of the activities that are on in the space.
The Stretford High Library is open to students from 8:15-8.30 am every morning, at break and lunch times, and from the end of the school day until 4:00 pm Monday-Friday.
In the Library, you’ll find Miss Hodge, Stretford High’s resident librarian, who is available to help with any book/literacy-related queries and – on Wednesdays – Mr Lovatt, our Connexions advisor. Additionally, our ‘reading champions’ act as library helpers and help us to promote a love of reading within the school.
Would you like to be a Reading Champion?
Do you love reading?
Do you want to share that love with others?
Do you enjoy being in the Library space and would like to help out more?
If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of those questions, then you’re already on your way to becoming a Reading Champion!
There are three levels you can reach, Bronze, Silver and Gold, with different rewards available for each one.
What do you have to do for each level?
- You’re already a Library Helper
- You know how ro check out and return books for other students
- You know how o return books to where they belong
- You can recommend books to peers
- You borrow at least one book every half-term
Reward: Bronze Reading Champion badge and certificate
- You’re a regular Library Helper
- You write a monthly book recommendation for your fellow students
- You help out with Library events and activities
- You borrow at least three books every half term
Reward: Silver Reading Champion badge and certificate
- You’re a regular Library Helper
- You write a monthly book recommendation for your fellow students
- You help out with Library events and activities
- You borrow at least four books every half term
Reward: Gold Reading Champion badge and certificate, plus and end of year treat!
Library Clubs!
Book To Screen Club
On Monday, we run ‘Book to Screen Club’ where we read a book and watch its TV/film adaptation in order to compare and contrast.
Creative Writing Club
On Tuesday, it’s Creative Writing Club. In the club, we produce work based on a different theme each week and students are encouraged to experiment with their writing and develop their love of writing for fun.
Dungeons and Dragons Club
On Thursday, we have Dungeons and Dragons Club. Students can engage with the role-playing game and develop their storytelling skills and their ability to think on their feet in the face of (imaginary) dragons, trolls, and much more!
LGBTQ+ Society
On Friday, the library hosts our LGBTQ+ Society – a relaxed space for students to talk, complete activities (often focused on promoting wellbeing), and engage with LGBTQ+ books, TV shows and movies.
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one."
George R. R. Martin
"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader."
Margaret Fuller
"So Matilda's strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone."
Roald Dahl
Reading for Pleasure
The benefits to reading regularly for pleasure are well documented, and at Stretford High, we are constantly adapting our approach to promoting reading for pleasure in line with the latest research from The National Literacy Trust. Along with running events to help us in our reading for pleasure mission (for example, World Book Day, Scholastic Book Fairs and author visits) we also run events and activities in the library at break and lunchtimes, clubs after school, KS3 students have a library lesson once every half-term, we encourage students to share book reviews with their peers in our newsletter every week, and we run our ‘Reading Champions’ program, where students can gain different rewards for achieving certain reading goals and helping to promote their love of books within the school.
In the last year, we have managed to increase our library loans by over a thousand books as compared to the 2022/23 academic year, we’ve drastically decreased the gap in loans between the genders, and we’ve used loan data to continually adapt our reading for pleasure approach – as we will continue to do heading in to the next academic year and beyond.