Library News

House Reading Challenge Pizza Lunch

On Wednesday students from this year’s winning house as well the individual winners joined together at lunch time for a celebratory Pizza Lunch and Book Trivia challenge. The Year 7 - 9 English Teachers as well as our Principals, Mrs Harris, Mrs Watson, and Mr Mamoliti joined the students for lunch to celebrate Yarra House, who with 194 points was the winning team for the third straight year in a row. 

After lunch, Mrs Harris presented the prizes to our winners (pictured below). Unfortunately, Ella our first-place individual winner, who read 59 books over the 3 months was unable to join us on the day. Emmy, who read 23 books, came in 2nd and Evie and Ryan tied for 3rd place, reading 22 books each.

It was then on for everyone to compete in the annual Book Trivia, based on some of the books that had been read during this year’s challenge. Conor, in Year 9, proved to be quite knowledgeable and quite a few Minties went in his direction.

It was a great time for those who attended, and it will be interesting to see if Kalinda House, who came 2nd this year with 138 points, might rise to the challenge and take the win next year.

Books and Brownies 

8 students came together to celebrate the final Books and Brownies for the year on Tuesday in the Library at lunchtime. Students were able to share the books they are currently reading while enjoying some fresh brownies and hot chocolates. Students had the chance to share some valuable feedback to Ms Mill on how next year’s group could be bigger and better. They were also able to have the first choice to browse and borrow the new books in the library. It’s been a great year for Books and Brownies, look out for the sign-up sheets in Winter 2026 and join us.

Library Volunteers Excursion: The library has been privileged to have 14 student volunteers helping in the library this year. They have undertaken to do a shift on the library desk, borrowing and returning items, as well as shelving returned books and preparing new books for circulation. 

By way of a thank you, Ms Mill the Librarian and Ms. Bishop travelled with these students to the State Library for a tour from one of the educators. Sarah Amos, a former Norwood teacher, who now works at the State Library, took our students through various parts of the Library, showing them the breadth and diversity of resources in the collection. They were able to view amazing artworks and view ‘The World of the Book’ exhibition firsthand. It included incredibly old manuscripts on vellum as well as more modern books such as Terry Griffin’s Treehouse books. They also ventured into the newspaper stacks and the Reading Room with a rare chance to have their picture taken on the Hushing Chair. Yes, it’s true, someone was employed up until they 1980’s to keep people quiet while they were using the library. The students had a fantastic day learning about not just the history of this beautiful library, but also about the free membership offered to all Victorian residents, which gives them access to a wealth of knowledge and information both physically and digitally.

Library Volunteers to the State Library

On Thursday, 4 September the library volunteers went on an excursion to the city to tour the State Library. The volunteers met at Ringwood Station in full college uniform at 8:40am and caught the train into the city. They walked to the State Library for the tour. The volunteers then returned to school for period 5 by taking a train, then the bus.

The library volunteers work during their lunch to help the library. The volunteers have helped shelve books, borrow books and games for students, create displays and suggest what book the library should purchase. Because of the help the volunteers have provided they are going to be able to tour the State Library. The tour will include getting to see parts of the library that the public cannot access such as the dome. The school librarian Linda Mill says that she “believes this a good excursion because it will give the library volunteers a better idea to what they have as resources.” 

The library volunteers are able to go to the state library because Linda Mill was able to get the excursion approved. When asked about the State Library excursion Charlotte a Year 9 library volunteer said, “I am excited to learn how the library works as well as see the parts that the public doesn’t get to see.”

Article by Amy Peterson