Resource Centre

New arrivals

Beanstack Reading Achievement

Congratulations to the students in each Year 5 to 7 class who received a $10 Collins Book Voucher for their continued engagement with Beanstack throughout Terms 2 and 3.

Our Year 5 winning class was 5B. Well done!

Beanstack Shout Outs

• Class with the best usage over the holidays: Year 7.5
• Most consistent usage during the first 2.5 weeks of Term 4: 5A

• Student most consistently achieving their reading goal over the last 4.5 weeks (20 minutes of reading per day): Sienna Eacott, with an impressive 24 days of reading and recording it on Beanstack.

   

This fortnight, I will be looking for a student in each class who records their reading on Beanstack and, most importantly, how they interact with Benny, the AI reading assistant, by answering the adaptive questions about each book they read. Remember to answer the questions as accurately as possible. I wonder who will be the students with the highest number of green flags in the coming fortnight for completing the book-related questions?

Well done to all students who are entering their own reading data from home. Every entry counts and helps your reading statistics grow. Keep up the fantastic reading effort!

Behind the Curtain

With the support of volunteers, we are continuing to spend time reorganising our Primary Fiction area.

We have spent time researching recommended reading ages for books to make sure that our younger students have books they are interested in and are able to read independently.

We have created a new area called Quick Reads, which is for our students in Year 1 who are beginning to read chapter books independently, as well as older students who want to revisit favourite books from years gone by. We have retained both our Junior Fiction collection, with books for students in Year 3 and above, and our Upper Primary collection for students in Year 5 and above.

Another big change is that we have split our Primary Graphic Novels across the three areas, meaning that all students are accessing books written for their age group.

Our primary series collection has also been spread across the Quick Reads, Quick Reads Series, Junior Fiction, Junior Fiction Series, Upper Primary, 5 to 9 Series and Picture Story Book collections, so students are reading books at their ability level and within the recommended reading age. Some books in the previous series section that were written by the same author, such as David Wagner's Max Rumble books, have been reintroduced into the relevant areas of the main collection, whereas books that have remained in the series section are collections written by different authors. Collections written by the same author have been reintroduced into the main collection. With these changes, we have already seen some books that were rarely browsed begin to increase in circulation.

As part of this change, we have also introduced dynamic shelving, where books are displayed differently. They may be stacked with some books standing upright, or stored in front-facing tubs that encourage greater interaction with our collection and make books more visible. This approach draws students' attention to books in a similar way to a bookshop display and is often more engaging than traditional shelving, where books can easily be overlooked.

Keep an eye out for the completion of this project in the coming weeks. We are only partway through and are working extremely hard to complete it.

As part of the larger project above, we have also completed some 'library gardening' by weeding books from our collection that may have been damaged, are more than 10 years old, or have not been borrowed in the past six years. These books were offered to our Primary classes, and many have found new homes on Year 3 classroom shelves. We also shared a number of books with Schools Out, where they were very much appreciated.

Book Donations

We always welcome book donations and, as mentioned above, we also share them with our classrooms and other groups that may need and appreciate them.

Keep reading!

Ms Height & Ms O’Neill

Resource Centre Team 

Important details

Opening Hours:

Passwords

If you haven’t received your new password yet, please contact the Resource Centre at library@moamagrammar.nsw.edu.au. We’ll ensure your password is sent to you as soon as possible.

Borrowing and Returns

Students may borrow and return books before school, at recess, lunchtime, and after school. Primary School students also have the opportunity to borrow during their fortnightly Library lessons, with books due back at their next session. Students in Years 7–9 have now begun visiting the Resource Centre regularly. Their books are due two weeks after the date of borrowing.

Borrowing Permissions

If students are requesting to borrow books above their age level, we request parents to write a letter regarding their permission for their child to borrow and read a specific book, which will be reviewed by library staff.

Renewals

Students may renew their books for an additional two weeks by speaking to staff at the Library Circulation Desk. If a further extension is required after this period, students must bring the book with them so staff can sight it before approving the renewal. Students may also renew their books by emailing the Library or by logging on to the school Library website, which is accessible through their SEQTA account.

Requests

If your child would like to borrow a specific book and the title is not included in our current catalogue, we will add this to our purchase wishlist.

Overdue notices

If you receive an overdue notice, there is a chance that the books may have been processed through our system after the email was sent. We encourage all parents to follow up on any issues by emailing the Resource Centre at library@moamagrammar.nsw.edu.au

Reading Permissions

Due to our shared space catering for students from Kindergarten to Year 12, our library collection is organised to help students easily find books with protagonists close to their own age. For example, in the Upper Primary section, most of the characters are between 11 and 13 years old. This approach ensures that themes and content remain age-appropriate, and also supports students in reading independently and with confidence.

When deciding where books are placed within the collection, we are guided by author and publisher recommendations.

If you have any other enquiries, issues or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via phone by ringing the main office or via email address at library@moamagrammar.nsw.edu.au