Library News

General Notices

Book Club

Book club orders close next Monday 24 February. Please order online using LOOP by this date.

Overdue Books

The library currently has a huge amount of long overdue books, dating from 2024 backwards. Notes have gone home this week with lists of any of these books that were last borrowed in your child's name. I am aware that many students believe they have returned books already, replaced lost books already, that children sometimes accidentally "return" books by putting them directly on the shelves so they don't get scanned in, and that sometimes things do sadly just get lost!

Please complete one final search for any of these overdue items if you aren't sure if they've been returned or replaced, and return to the library ASAP. If you cannot find them there will be no charge to families for replacing these resources, all long overdues will be marked as missing in two weeks' time, so they will no longer appear on your child's current loans.

2025 Policy

Moving forward, overdue notices will be sent home each week to support your child in returning books before they fall too far into those invisible black holes things disappear into! At the end of each term an invoice will be sent home to cover the replacement cost of any books that remain overdue.

Library Lovers' Day

Friday 14 February was Library Lovers' Day, and I decided to get to know what the students at St Mary's love best. After surveying the Grade 1 - 6 students in their first week back, we determined three of the top favourite things across the school are: sport, animals and computers. The students have enjoyed borrowing from displays built around these subjects when they returned for their second week, and also helped with decorating the library to mark the occasion.

Safer Internet Day

Tuesday 11 February was Safer Internet Day. Students in Stage 1 shared how they use the internet at home and discussed risks we all face online and how we can safely navigate these. Stage 2 and 3 students extended the discussion by exploring the different scenarios below.

This week we continued the discussion with Stage 2 students producing posters about being safe online, Stage 1 students learning more about cyberbullying, and Stage 3 students working in groups to discuss and produce brainstorms about online safety and the risks and benefits of social media. This discussion has been very important in light of new laws being introduced in Australia banning social media use for under 16s.

You can learn more about risks faced by young people online and how to protect your children from the very real mental health risks of exploring the internet here and here.

A couple of examples of the posters Stage 2 came up with:

Premier's Reading Challenge 

The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) begins on Monday the 24th of February and runs until the 22nd of August 2025. 

The PRC is a voluntary challenge that involves the children reading a specified number of books from a particular list and keeping a log of the books read. The challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for pleasure in students and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge for children to read, to read more, and to read more widely. 

If you would like more information about the challenge, visit the PRC website here.

Don't forget that any books that you are currently reading or that you have read since the completion of last year's challenge may be included in this year's list. 

Library Lesson/Borrowing Days

ES1 - Wednesday

S1 - Thursday

S2 - Wednesday

S3 - Thursday

Library Opening Hours for Students