Library News

Harmony Day

We have a new display in the library to celebrate Harmony Day on March 21st. The books on display cover a wide range of issues including stories about people struggling with cultural identity or facing discrimination, and books that celebrate belonging and community. 

The displays are decorated with paper chains that students from Kindy to Year 4 decorated last week, and there is also a display of quotes related to the themes of peace, inclusion and diversity to get the students thinking.

Graphic Novel Section

The library now has a designated graphic novel section, which I wish I photographed prior to Wednesday's lessons as it proved very popular and about half of the books have been borrowed from it already. I will be building this section up as these are incredibly popular books and a fantastic way to get kids engaged in reading. 

For anyone who may be concerned their kids aren't benefiting from these books as much as from reading plain text, Scholastic has a great article here about how graphic novels improve reading skills. It's important to remember that kids' brains are different now, and reading a plain text novel from cover to cover is a lot more challenging for their brains than it was for today's adults. Graphic novels offer a more stimulating way to build their literacy skills and get them sinking their teeth into books.

Premier's Reading Challenge 

The Premier's Reading Challenge is running until the 22nd of August 2025. We have just had the technical kinks ironed out by the PRC team to grant St Mary's access to this year's challenge. I will be letting students know all about the challenge next week and distributing login details.

In the meantime there is nothing stopping your child from starting to read and log what they've read for the challenge. While this will become more accessible once we have student logins, you can download the challenge lists here and keep note at home of what has been read from the relevant list (you can include any books that have been read since the challenge closed last year). 

Challenge levels are outlined below:

Library Lesson/Borrowing Days

ES1 - Wednesday

S1 - Thursday

S2 - Wednesday

S3 - Thursday

Library Opening Hours for Students