Library

We had a very busy end to Term 1 with two competitions, a raffle and student manga selection happening.  All of these activities were to promote reading and encourage students to share their connections to stories. Manga Monday was held during the break on Monday of  week 10 to allow students to view and select new manga for our collection. This is an extremely popular collection with 439 manga books alone borrowed by students in Term 1. Our Library Monitors and Ambassadors were invaluable in contributing to the success of the event. 

The borrower raffle, where students received an entry for every book they borrowed or returned, was conducted over the last three weeks of Term 1 and the lucky winners of Roald Dahl Easter eggs were Eloise Check and Denise Mangsat. The library also ran a competition to create a book trailer review of your favourite Roald Dahl novel in term one. This was won by Ari Dunn, who received a Roald Dahl Easter Egg, for her fabulous entry on Matilda that included special effects. 

Our final competition for the term was to design an original whimsical character that would fit in the world of Alice in Wonderland. The winning entry was by Caitlin Wu in Year 8 and our runner up entry was by Krystal Harris. Caitlin received a hardcover copy of Alice in Wonderland and a Cadbury bunny. 

Following on from a previous competition at the start of term one, the LGBTQI bookmarks designed by students have now been digitally created by an upcoming and talented LGBTQI graphic artist and will soon be available in the library. The designs are amazing and we can’t wait for students to be able to use them. 

The Library Ambassadors are running the latest library competition for students. They have done a great job in designing the competition and are actively promoting it around the school. The Fan Art Competition encourages students to create an artwork in any medium on the theme Dreams and Nightmares that incorporates a character from a book, manga, anime, film or from popular culture that they love. Details on the competition can be found on the competition posters or by speaking to Miss Klein or one of the Ambassadors. 

Our e-book platform is still available for students to utilise at any time by accessing https://henrykendah.eplatform.co/ and logging in with their school login. There are a range of great titles available and many that are on the Premier’s Reading Challenge list. The Premier’s Reading Challenge is well underway and we encourage students to get involved and remind participating students to record their books on their reading log on the challenge website. 

Miss Klein’s own reading challenge, 52 books in 52 weeks, is progressing well. She has currently read 20 books, some of which were highly recommended by students. By reading often Miss Klein has seen her reading rate increase. Students can keep up with her reading journey by looking at the visual reading path or the reading chart displayed in the library. 

The Creative Writing Club established in Term 1 has been meeting every Friday Week B and Miss Klein is blown away by not only the passion for writing students display but the amazing work they are producing in such a short amount of time. Any student is welcome to join and the aim of the club is to encourage student expression and joy in writing. The board outside the library has writing competitions displayed throughout the year for any interested students.

Please enjoy one of the pieces created in the Club, written in fifteen minutes and inspired by a Shakespeare quote, this activity was in celebration of his birthday at the end of April. This was created by Courtney Cottle in Year 8 and is inspired by the soliloquy ‘To be or not to be’ from Hamlet. 

Where will I end up, will it be

In sunshine against the dew on the grass

Butterflies dancing as time goes past,

The wind blowing gently

A sigh of relief to the quiet sunlight.

Or will it be

Dark and insidious as the night

With clouds so big it is easy to hide,

Drenched in the sorrows of all my lies

As the menacing truth comes out of the night.

Where will the wind take me?

Which path will be mine?

One full of joy

Or one filled with fight?

That is the question

And sadly, I don’t know the answer. 

Miss Shelley Klein

Librarian