Library news

Official launch of the Shadow Judges project

We are excited to announce that Box Hill High School has signed up again to participate in the Children’s Book Council of Australia, Shadow Judges Reading Project. This project is where students sign up to read and review the top six books that are nominated in the Older Readers Category and judge these books using the official judging criteria. 

Open to students from Year 7 through to Year 12, students who register to take part will be provided with copies of each book and have opportunities to discuss their merit in organized book chats. They will also need to rank each of the six books and try and come to a collaborative decision as to which book they predict will win the 2026 CBCA book of the year before the official announcement is made in August. 

The top six books in the Older Readers Category will be announced on Tuesday 31 March at 12:00pm and are selected from the 22 books recognised in the Notables list: https://cbca.org.au/2026-notables/ 

Sign up with Ms Pearson in the library. 

Please note that books in this category are for mature readers aged 13-18 and can explore some particularly challenging themes. 

Library Leaders 

We want to thank all of the wonderful Library Leaders who have either signed up again or recently joined us. Their support to make the library a wonderful space for the whole school community is incredible and they carry out an enormous array of support roles that help us to run the various activities and events in the library on a daily basis. In each edition of our Out of the Box school newsletter we will feature one of our library leaders to celebrate their wonderful contributions and this time we focus on one of our senior library leaders, Atharva (pictured below). 

Supporting the school to archive important memorabilia

by Atharva (Year 11)

I first became aware of this role last year, a few months before the school’s 95th anniversary. I was already helping around the library with another student when Ms Collins asked if we could help by scanning some old photographs. I clearly remember that we spent the entirety of that lunch gazing in wonder at photographs of really familiar locations but from a completely different time realm. The classrooms had blackboards, some areas in the school were designated as "computer rooms" - it was just so fascinating. Since then, I have developed an increasing passion for archiving the past and to preserving these wonderful moments in time. 

The most interesting part of the role is learning about the history of Box Hill High School. It's so fascinating to look back at the past. For example, one of the old yearbooks mentions a Board Games Camp which prompted me to search the library shelves to locate the books: A guide to Warhammer and War of the Ring that had been donated to aid this very camp.

There are also old photographs of the Food Tech kitchens from the 2000s with the distinctive 2000 style. And I couldn’t quite get my head around the large, bulky computers in some of those old photos, as well as images of when BHHS was an all-boys’ school. I have archived a 1932 BHHS Football Club photo and a medal attached to a note that Queen Elizabeth II donated on a visit to the school back in 1956. And I can't go past an image I found of Ms Nevard back in the early 90s. I remember asking Ms Collins if it was possible that she could be a vampire because, seriously, she has not aged at all! 

To anyone thinking of helping out with this massive endeavour, I have two key pieces of advice. First, you really need to have an interest in archiving. So many of these items are old and you've got to treat them with so much love and care. And secondly, when you are waiting for the scanning machine to load, having a friend or another library leader who also loves reminiscing and learning all about BHHS history can make the whole archiving experience so much more enjoyable.

Library Loyalty Card Term 1 winners

Congratulations to Term 1 Library Loyalty Card winners (pictured above), Noah R, Saul C and Isaiah C.  These three students are all from Year 7 and have been fabulous library borrowers! They have each won a book of their choice to take home. 

Duke of Edinburgh Year 10 volunteers

This year we have 20 Year 10 students who have chosen to support the library as part of the volunteer time for the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. Volunteering for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award involves committing to a regular, unpaid activity that helps the community and takes about one hour per week. We have been so fortunate that students have volunteered to support us in a vast range of roles including Photography Club, Writing Club, Chess Club, Knitting and Crochet Club as well as general library duties. 

Uno Tournament

At the Term 1 Uno Tournament on 25 March, the question was answered: Who is Numero Uno? The answer is Anthony! 

We have a new champion, who takes the throne which was left vacant after the last winner left the school at the end of 2025. He has won the crown after two blazingly hard rounds, one against his friends and one against the winner of all other tables. The champions from the other tables were Stephanie Z, Jeremy L, Harion L and Jasmine L (the latter was just casually playing until her parent came to pick her up and ended up in the final!).