"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader."

– Margaret Fuller
 

The Learning Resource Centre (LRC) at Scissett Middle School is a busy, vibrant and exciting environment which offers a wide range of resources to promote reading, facilitate research and arouse curiosity.

Books remain our primary resource, with around 5,000 titles offering pupils a wealth of choice. In addition, we regularly accept donations and utilise Book Fair sales to replenish titles.

Our LRC is an engaging and popular place where students have scheduled timeslots with their English classes to browse and take books out that interest them. Pupils can also visit during break, lunch, and reflection time to browse and borrow books, assisted by our dedicated Student Librarians, who also serve as Reading Ambassadors. Not only do they help run the LRC, but also meet frequently here to discuss ideas for ways to promote and encourage a love of reading across the school.

As in previous years we will hold the Scholastic Book Fair in November and March (to coincide with World Book Day) to expose our pupils to a plethora of different books and genres to help pique their interest in reading and give them the opportunity to purchase what may be their new favourite book.

We recognise and celebrate that books are a precious commodity and our centrally located, welcoming library is something to be cherished. We are happy to be able to share this wonderful resource with parents and carers as well.

During afternoon form sessions, pupils spend quality time with their form classes, reading a novel together. Each year group is enjoying an age-appropriate book, carefully selected to support reading for pleasure.

 

Year 6 students are hanging on to every frightful word as young Jake tours Grimstone Hall, one of the most haunted houses in the country, in Seven Ghosts by Chris Priestley.

 

 

Year 7 students are getting a glimpse into the world of Addie, a young autistic girl who is campaigning to have the women prosecuted in the Scottish witch trials remembered, in A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll.

 

Year 8 pupils are reading about the harsh realities of life as a ‘greaser’ in 1950s Oklahoma. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society where he believes he is an outsider.

 

Here are some questions to support your children’s understanding of what they have been reading and to open up some discussion about the novels:

  • What has happened so far in the story?
  • What do you predict will happen next?
  • How do you think the story will end?
  • Why do you think the character did ____________?
  • What would you have done if you were the character?
  • How would you have felt if you were the character?
  • What images do you see in your head when the story is being read?
  • How do you picture the characters in your mind?
  • What are you wondering about as your teacher reads?
  • What do you think will happen in the next part of the story?