Please welcome Mrs Chandler!

It's a new year, and we're welcoming a new member of staff, Mrs Chandler, who is taking over from Mrs Sweet now that she's retired.  She may look very familiar to a lot of people as she's been working as a parent volunteer here for years, but it's great to welcome her to the library team!

Please drop in and have a chat.  I'm determined to teach her to crochet before the year is out...

Year 7 Reading Programme

This year we're launching a new Year 7 reading programme, aimed at refocusing our energies on reading for pleasure.

The beginning of secondary school is a challenging time for many readers, as the business of school  and life can take over from reading, and a lot of students find that they put books down and don't pick them up again.  Our aim this year is to ensure that this doesn't happen.

Year 7 students are being asked to read for ten minutes a day, every day.  We're tracking their attitudes to reading via a survey and will be tracking their reading through the use of library Reading Logs, which will be issued to students each time they have a library lessons.  Huge numbers of commendations are up for grabs! We'll also be writing more reviews, making recommendations and developing our use of the library as a resource.  For more details, please drop me an email!

Another academic year gone by *sniff*

Hard to believe that it's the end of the school year already! It's been a fun one, with so much going on.  And we have big plans for next year too...

Project Rollercoaster - The Grand Finale!

Around a year ago, our Nerdfighters asked if they could go to Alton Towers.  I told them that if they prepared magnificent research projects on rollercoasters, then yes.  They did.

Here's Isay's account of the day:

On the 16^th May 2012, I and twenty one other students as well as two members of staff sampled the early morning sunshine at the gates of Roundwood Park School. We were waiting, an hour before school starts to board a coach on what was to become a tiring but exciting day.

Since the beginning of last year, the library has become home to a new club called the Nerdfighters. Once a week, we gather in the library, discuss topics that interest us and come up with ways to make the world suck less. One such discussion contemplated the brilliance of rollercoasters, and before too long a project had been founded with the condition that if we worked hard and produced projects with a rollercoaster theme, we might be able to justify a school trip to a theme park.  So that was how we found ourselves boarding our coach with cries of DFTBA    (don’t forget to be awesome) on our way to Alton Towers.

The coach journey was subdued for the most part, with many of us trying to catch up on our sleep before reaching our destination; although by the final hour we had had many renditions of ABBA tracks as well as having set up the tradition to cheer whenever we saw anything relating to Alton Towers. This then lead to the coach being very noisy as we reached the village of Alton!

Our timing was perfect and so after posing with Sid the Sloth, we found ourselves without any queues to have to deal with, and with the run of the park virtually to ourselves. We decided that going on absolutely everything was the best idea for how to spend the day, and so we started at the back of the park with Air, Nemesis and Nemesis Sub-Terra. For those who did not fancy the Nemesis Franchise- seeing that Air was a firm favourite – time was taken to sit out in the sunshine (!) and consult the map while commenting on the nerdiest topics available.

We then moved onto a small rollercoaster based on a mine train, which was fun and light hearted, before getting soaked in the Rapids- not helped by the fact that you could pay for a water cannon to soak unsuspecting riders! After a brief lunch break in which we cooed over some very fluffy goslings and then got chased by their parents, we walked on to the Sonic Spinball- which proved very popular indeed, despite the threat of rain.

Next was the highly anticipated Oblivion- in which you are dropped for 180ft into a dark tunnel before resurfacing at the other side at speeds of up to 65mph. While quite a few more of us just watched from a distance, it did not stop a good proportion of the group running from ride to ride and then regretting it afterwards.

Thankfully for some, the next ride was quite a walk away from the Oblivion part of the park. The time had come for us to embark upon the Dark Forest, which unsurprisingly, is home to what is reported to be two of the scariest rides in the park. First up was Rita, which was both the most anticipated and the most dreaded rollercoaster on the entire trip if the excited but nervous expressions were anything to go by. I personally was cursing my adrenalin-fuelled side for deciding that this particular rollercoaster would be a good idea, as for my first time on a ‘proper’ rollercoaster I had cleverly chosen one that accelerated from 0-100mph in 2.5 seconds with a G-force of 4.7. Nevertheless, we all piled on and although most of us were screaming, a select few still managed to sing the Muppets theme tune the entire way round.

Next was Thirteen, which had only a few participators, as many of us were too tired and still recovering form Rita to experience the only freefall drop in rollercoaster history.

We had by that point been on pretty much everything in the park, so we instead returned to Air by popular demand to once again feel as if we were flying. Then for those who still felt the need for adrenalin, Nemesis and Ripsaw were revisited, while the rest of us sat in the sun once again and marvelled at one member of the party who had managed to eat 10 donuts throughout the day.

While some of our group decided to revisit the Sonic Spinball and other rides, some of us who felt that our last ride should be one in which we once again got soaking wet, decided on The Flume. After being covered in water once again, as well as being attacked by rubber ducks, we exited our last ride and then encountered no less than a pirate driving down the street singing and dancing as he did so. Point Proven: Never underestimate the randomness of Alton Towers.

We left the theme park both exhausted and still wishing for more, although any thoughts of rushing back around the theme park were soon abandoned as everyone realised how tired they were on the coach journey. The day had been memorable, exciting, and a lot better than maths, and so we were sure that we would have many reminders of our trip for a long time to come. One of the ‘reminders’ however, became especially noticeable when we came into school the next day with sunburn from the lovely weather!

Our hard work over our projects definitely paid off, and we will certainly have a lot to ‘report’ at the next Nerdfighters meeting. One question came out of this trip however, and one that we as the Nerdfighter community really want an answer to. When can we go again? 

Carnegie Shortlist 2012

It's that time of year again and our Shadowers are fully geared up to shadow the Carnegie award again.  It's a brilliant shortlist this year, featuring some debut novels, as well as some from established favourites.  I was delighted to see A Monster Calls on both the Greenaway and Carnegie list, and am really hoping for a Greenaway win for it!  Of the eight shortlisted novels, I have read only three this year, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest.  I'm starting with Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys which already has me completely hooked only a few pages in.  


Our Shadowers will have a tough job choosing only one of these to win! 

The shortlist is:
 

David Almond MY NAME IS MINA 


Mina writes and writes in an empty notebook, and through her stories, thoughts, lessons and dreams, her journal grows into something extraordinary. A prequel to the author's CILIP Carnegie Medal-winning novel, "Skellig". 


 

Lissa Evans SMALL CHANGE FOR STUART

Ten years old and small for his age, Stuart Horten moves to the dreary town of Beeton, away from all his friends. But before long he is swept up in a quest to find his great-uncle's lost workshop, a place stuffed with trickery, magic – and danger.

Sonya Hartnett THE MIDNIGHT ZOO


Under cover of darkness, two brothers cross a war-ravaged country carrying a secret bundle. One night they stumble across a town that has been reduced to smouldering ruins. Amidst the wreckage is a zoo, filled with animals in need of hope.

 



Ali Lewis EVERYBODY JAM


Danny lives in middle of the outback. His older brother Jonny was killed in an accident last year, but no-one ever talks about it. Meanwhile his sister is pregnant, the rains haven't come and it's time for the annual cattle muster, during which Danny is determined to prove he can fill his brother's shoes.

 


Andy Mulligan TRASH


Three friends, Raphael, Gardo and Rat live on a heap of trash and spend their days sifting through other people's rubbish. One day they find something extraordinary – a deadly secret. From that moment onwards, they are hunted without mercy, and their lives will never be the same again.

Patrick Ness A MONSTER CALLS The monster shows up after midnight. It isn't the one Conor has been expecting; the one from his nightmare; the one he has had nearly every night since his mother started her treatment. But this new monster is ancient, and wild, and it wants something just as dangerous from Conor: the truth. Annabel Pitcher MY SISTER LIVES ON THE MANTELPIECE Ten year old Jamie hasn't cried since his sister's death five years before. Though everyone kept saying they would get better with time; things are now worse than ever. Dad drinks, Mum's gone and Jamie still has a whole heap of unanswered questions.

 


Ruta Septys BETWEEN SHADES OF GREY


One night, fifteen-year old Lina, her mother and brother are hauled from their home by Soviet guards, thrown into cattle cars and sent away. They are being deported to Siberia. An unimaginable and harrowing journey has begun, but Lina refuses to give up hope of seeing home and loved ones again.


Details from the Carnegie website.


As last year, we'll be posting our reviews both on our student blog, and over on the CILIP Shadowing site.  This year I'm hoping for more fan art, fan fic and the launch of a themed cake baking competition!  Fingers crossed for some author involvement too - watch this space... 

Reading Blanket Relay!

As the passion for crafting and making seems to spread (wooo!) some of our knitters are moving on to crochet.  We're working on a Reading Blanket to live on the comfy seats in the library, so that chilly readers can snuggle up underneath.  It'll be built over the course of the next few weeks in a relay, with the aim being to have someone working on it all break and lunch time, every day.

This was our day 1 progress, expertly modeled by top knitter and crocheter, Louise.  

Let's see how long it takes to grow! 

RPS on Pinterest!

Pinterest, an online pin board that can also act as a link library, has really caught our attention!  I've been pinning stuff to my own like a madwoman over the last few weeks, and now we've signed up an account for the library too.  Please follow our boards to see what we're adding to the library, what we're reading, and what we dream of having!

It seems as though Pinterest is going to be an incredibly useful tool for collecting visuals.  This should be particularly useful for Arts students who are collecting inspiration from around the internet.

If you'd like an account, please email me and I'll forward an invite to you as soon as I can.

Tools for the EPQ

Students in sixth form are working on their EPQs (Extended Project Qualification) and have been gathering research from books and the internet in their relevant areas.  Here are a few tools that they've been finding useful:

Evernote
Evernote is a free subscription service which serves as an online notebook.  Information can be categorised and the format encourages the recording of important bibliographic information. Evernote can be used to store notes, images, articles, anything.  Useful extensions are available for most browsers.

Watch this video for a quick tutorial:

Diigo
Diigo is a social bookmarking tool that quickly and easily stores all of your online bookmarks.  Specially useful for sharing your sources, keeping track of what you've been reading, and also getting access to collections of sites that others have already collected.

Zotero
Zotero takes these things a step further and formats your references into your choice of system.  We recommend that all students taking the EPQ at advanced level make use of a standard referencing system, in preparation for similar work at University.  The most commonly used is Harvard, but if students are already sure of where they're going to be studying next, they can chose to use the format of that particular institution.  The Firefox add-on is superb and I'd recommend it for anyone who is doing large scale research.  It not only formats website details for you, but can be used to track down the bibliographic information for books, journals and papers too.  Genius tool.

Reader Feedback Fun

Our active reading groups are always looking for something to get their teeth into and were recently asked to take part on a survey by author Neil Arksey, looking at the opening chapters of his new book, Intelligent Life.  Our students read the sample chapters and gave feedback online.  They were very impressed with the opening and have demanded copies for here, and continued to talk about what they'd read right up past the end of lunch bell (apologies to form tutors!)

Their names were put into a draw to win a signed copy of Intelligent Life, and the winner was Molly in Year 8. Congratulations Molly!  

To take part in the feedback gathering, please read the sample chapters and complete the survey.

The Federation of Children's Book Groups

I'm pleased to say that RPS Library will be joining the St Albans and District Children's Book Group, which is part of the FCBG.  We're really looking forward to taking part in the voting for next year's Red House book awards and getting to know some more of our local participants!

Red House Book Award

The winners of the Red House book award have been announced, with The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon winning the award for the Younger Readers category, and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness scooping up the award for Older Readers and winning the overall prize for the year.

What is particularly special about this award is that it's voted for entirely by children, so it really is a first-hand reader's choice of winner.  I was delighted to see Ness win, as one of my concerns was that few younger readers would be able to access the gut wrenching emotions of his book, which seemed to be the case with our readers here, but it's wonderful to see that they can and do.

Reading on a Kindle

Before the summer, I took one of our library Kindles on a test drive.  We got on quite well, and I quickly started looking at the Kindle as 'my book' instead of a device.  I decided to keep reading the Song of Ice and Fire series as ebooks to save my poor hands from breaking under the weight of brick sized books, and to test out the new Kindle model, which I far prefer.  

Today I finished the last book in the series published so far and it dawned on me that I have been reading the same series since August.  Five books. In five months.  This is far, far below my regular reading level.  So what's been going on? 

Part of it is down to the books, or should I call it the text?  I have loved reading this series, but found that after book 3, my attention started to wander but I had already committed myself to these characters and didn't feel as though I could stop*.  And with the eformat so easy to read, so light in my hands, I didn't feel reluctant to pick it up, as I usually would with tomes this size. When I've grown tired of previous serials, my hands have grown physically tired of holding them, I've grown tired of the covers.  This didn't happen with the Kindle so I kept going.  In a way, I wish I hadn't. Five books.  In five months.  When there are so many wonderful books waiting to be read, I've been left feeling a little cheated. 

Though I'm very fond of the Kindle and now have one all of my very own (wooo birthday!), I have come to a realisation.  My reading experience with it so far has been hugely positive, and being able to up the font size when suffering with tired eyes has been a complete godsend.  But I miss paper.  I miss the smell and I miss the ache in my hand from reading for too long. I miss the sense of progression through a book as the balance of pages read and unread starts to shift. The little percentage line at the bottom of the screen just doesn't do it for me.  Having the option of an ereader is wonderful, and its uses are many.  I'm very glad I have one and know that I will use it a lot in the future.  But it's also quite comforting to realise that at heart, I'm a book reader.  Long live ink, paper, string and glue.

*Smart move, George R.R. Martin.  Smart move. 

Letter to Councillors.

Here is the text of a letter that I have sent to the councillors who will make the final decision about the future of the Herts Schools Library Service on Monday 19th December. 

Dear Cllr.,

On 19th December you will be making the decision to either save or close the Hertfordshire Schools’ Library Service.  Having looked carefully into the process to this point, I have several concerns that I would wish you to consider.

Firstly, that the process has come this this far without consultation with the stakeholders in this service: the schools.  Before Tuesday 6th December there was no notification that the service was even running at a deficit, let alone in danger of closure.  That it had come as far as the Local & Libraries Panel without consultation is disturbing.  Having spoken to some of those who attended that meeting, I understand that they believed consultation had taken place, through the Schools Forum.  Sadly, this is not the case.  The Schools Forum is charged with making decisions on behalf of the county’s schools, but there is no consultation.  Headteachers and School Librarians were unaware of the proposed closure.  Staff have been shocked. 

The last consultation with schools on this issue took place in 2007, when schools were in a very different position.  Reductions to their budgets have taken place since.  The statistics provided in the report show that there has been a corresponding decline in the numbers of schools subscribing to the service.  This can hardly be surprising when Heads and department leaders have had to make the choice between staff or resource reductions.  Many librarians put off their subscription for this year, intending to buy back in when budgets had stabilised.  At no point was there any indication that the service was in danger of closure. In addition, the statistics show that last year there was in fact an increase in the number of schools subscribing: 14% from primaries and 19% from secondaries in 2010-11.  This has been put down to effective marketing and offers from the SLS, which shows very clearly that there is demand for its services.  Basing a ‘developing trend’ on one year’s decline, particularly when that one year coincides with dramatic budget cuts, is misleading.  It is a Traded Service and therefore commercial, and good commercial sense insists that your stakeholders be kept abreast of any financial difficulty.  This has not happened. 

Some believe that schools have been consulted through the option to subscribe and have ‘voted with their feet’, but this is inaccurate.  Schools have never been given the option to subscribe or loose the service.  The choice they made this year was not to drive it to closure, but to save money in their immediate futures, believing, as we all did, that the service was safe.  The two choices are very different.  I was told that no schools have subscribed since the announcement of the service’s imminent closure. It can hardly be a surprise that schools are unable to invest in a service that they have been told should close. It will also have been very difficult for relevant departments to make arrangements for a new subscription this close to the end of term. 

The timing of this process is of deep concern.  The news only found its way to us, through Twitter, on the 6th December, barely 9 working days before schools break up for the holidays.  The run up to Christmas is an intensely busy time for everyone and for schools to have so little notice that a valued service is under threat, with the final decision to be made after the end of term, is worrying.  The process had already gone so far that many felt that they were already too late to take action, protest, or subscribe in time to save it.

The initial report (Murphy, 2011) into the future of the funding of the service recommended that the ‘SLS would require the existing level of funding from the education budget to be at least maintained.’  The Schools Forum voted in November to do just this.  Funding from the education budget has been guaranteed until 2013 and yet the recommendation was carried forward to close the service (Bignell & Murphy, 2011). This simply does not follow.  The initial report also mentions the potential for running costs to be reduced following the relocation from the New Barnfield site.  This does not appear in the report presented on 7th December. 

The potential impact of the closure has not been fully explored. CILIP (Chartered Instituted of Library and Information Professionals) and the SLA (School Library Association) can provide advice and guidance to schools and librarians, but they are ill equipped to do so, as the structure has traditionally been that they advise the SLS and the SLS advise the end user on a local level.  Problems such as a detailed question on copyright, the licensing of DVDs or the legality of access to information need swift resolution from professionals who are well placed to assist.  The SLS is the source of this for Hertfordshire.

The 7th December report is also contradictory in its assertion that the closing of Schools’ Library Services is a nationwide trend, while suggesting that schools and libraries would be able to buy into similar services from nearby counties. Hertfordshire Schools’ Library Service is ‘one of England’s largest and most respected’ (CILIP, 2011) and is often referred to as the SLS flagship.  Surrounding counties will be taking their lead from the decision made by Hertfordshire.  Closure of this service could create a domino effect of similar closures across the country. The closure of these services may be a nationwide trend, but is it really one that we want to be a part of?

There are no practical alternatives for the services provided by the SLS.  They are a hub for resources, advice and training.  They are a powerful buying group and have negotiated substantial discounts on otherwise unaffordable e-resources which will be lost to schools if the service is closed.  The Equality Impact Assessment (Bignell & Murphy, 2011) details the potential for negative impacts, with no action suggested to equalise this.  If the SLS is closed, over one third of secondary schools and nearly half of primary schools in the county will loose access to resources, and these are only the fully subscribing schools.  This represents thousands of children, thousands of learners.  An additional 15% of schools buy Pay As You Use services.  An recent poll by the Literacy Trust revealed that 1 in 3 children does not own a book.  Access to these resources has never been more vital.

Funding from 2013 is uncertain, as new school funding structures come into place.  Changes in the way that the SLS is funded and structured are necessary and inevitable.  The move to a new site should surely be seen as an excellent opportunity to make these changes and show the country an efficient, streamlined service that offers enough to be valued by schools to the extent that Headteachers are willing to invest more of their directly allocated funds.  I believe Tricia Adams, the Director of the School Library Association, has already offered consultancy in this matter.  To simply close such a wonderful resource because of an uncertain future runs counter to good sense, business logic and investment in the most important aspect of all: education.

Hertfordshire County Council have already shown that they value libraries and learning through an admirable refusal to close a single public library, despite the need for heavy cuts.  A Schools’ Library Service may be non-statutory, but this does not mean that it should be thrown away.  Please consider giving the Hertfordshire Schools’ Library Service the support it deserves and encourage a new direction in which it can prove its value and save itself.

With hope,

Miss Nicky Adkins

Librarian

Roundwood Park School

Support from Michael Morpurgo

When I heard that the council were planning to close the SLS, I contacted Michael Morgurgo, who does a yearly event there for gifted and talented writers.  Several of my students have been along to this and found it a wonderful day, arriving back at school excited about their own work and eager to take it further.  

Though Michael Morpurgo is away at the moment, promoting the new War Horse film*, he took the time to write a letter to the leader of the council, asking him to consider a different future for the service.  You can read his letter here.  

*sob* 

*let's see if it makes me cry as much as the stage play did... 

Threat to Herts SLS - Statement from CILIP and the National Literacy Trust

CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and the National Literacy Trust have released a joint press statement, condemning the threatened closure of Hertfordshire's Schools Library Service.

Closure of respected Schools Library Service blow to literacy and learning

Hertfordshire Schools Library Services, one of England’s largest and most respected Schools Library Services, is set to close in the New Year. A recent Hertfordshire County Council report recommended the service should close following declining buy-in from schools and uncertainty about the amount of funding the service would receive from central education budgets.

Schools Library Services provide professional support to schools to help manage their libraries. They provide books and resources to support teaching and help encourage reading for pleasure and develop a reading culture in schools.

Annie Mauger, CILIP Chief Executive, responded to the news:

“We are very shocked and saddened. This is a bitter blow to the hundreds of schools and thousands of children who benefit from the support of this service. The proposal to closure the service reflects the difficult decisions that both schools and local authorities have to make. The decline in numbers of schools buying into the service because of reductions in funding and the cuts to local authority library budgets means the service cannot subsidise losses. Vital support for literacy and learning will be lost.

The end result of this decision is pupils getting less support in a time where literacy levels and skills for life are more essential than ever. Hertfordshire County Council may feel that they have no choices as this is a traded service, but my concern is that this will create a domino effect across the country.”

Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust added:

“Schools Library Services are a vital ingredient in effective school library provision for children across the country. Hertfordshire’s Schools Library Service has an iconic status as a centre of excellence in this field. If a service that is one of the biggest and best in the country is set to close, this threatens every Schools Library Service in the country.”

The Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals and the National Literacy Trust asks that government responds to the Estelle Morris Report from the School Library Commission and that an investigation into sustainable models for future provision of Schools Library Services should be taken forward.

CILIP believes it is time to Shout About School Libraries and Schools Library Services, before we lose them.

-ends-

Links with Local Libraries

This morning I spoke to the children's librarian for our local public libraries and we discussed cementing a link between our reading groups and our nearest library, Harpenden.  The branch will be under going a revamp over the next few months, after which we'll be able to contribute displays, reviews and recommendations for the children's and young adult sections.  We also discussed the possibility for some joint events, held at the public library.  With any luck we'll be able to organise some fantastic author visits and invite reading groups from other neighbouring schools along.

Some exciting things ahead!

Threat to Herts SLS

Yesterday we discovered that the Hertfordshire Schools Library Service is under threat of closure.  This has come as a horrible shock, as it's the first time we'd heard that it was even running at a deficit.  I'm teaming up with the lovely folks over at We <3 Libraries to campaign to save it.  The Local and Libraries Panel are meeting TODAY to discuss a report that recommends its closure.  If the recommendation is passed today, it will  be ratified on the 19th December.  The time scale here is horribly short and the lack of consultation intensely worrying.

There are many phone calls to be made.

If you'd like to help, please contact these people.  They're the ones who will make the decision on the 19th.

Stan Lee Excelsior Award

The shortlist for the Stan Lee Excelsior award has been released!  Our shadowers will be reading these through and voting for their own winner next year.

The selection and variety is fantastic, so hopefully we'll be creating some new graphic novel fans and spreading the word across the school.

For more details, please visit the award site.

The Game of Thrones conundrum

I love the Song of Ice and Fire series.  I will quite happily sit and talk for many hours about the awesomeness of Tyrion, whether Sansa is a sympathetic character or not (*cough* no *cough* ) and the fates of the various Starks, the Hands of Kings and who Coldhands is.  The series is engrossing, well written, and has some fantastic ties to discussions about morality and power that have fueled some amazing debates around the reading table.  Word of their greatness is spreading, and now some of our higher level readers in Year 9 (aged 13/14) have asked to reserve them.

My gut says yes.  But there's a little voice in my head that says 'hang on, aren't these books a little bit, well, rapey?'  The violence presented in these novels holds no problems for me in terms of loans.  They're massive bricks of books, and they're only being picked up by strong readers who are aware of their own limits in terms of violence tolerance and will return a book if they're uncomfortable with it.  And yes, I know it's a cheap analogy, but the violence that these students can both see and more importantly meter out in computer games matches or exceeds what's in these books*.  But there's an awful lot of rape.  It's not explicit, in fact it's so sparsely written when it happens that there's safely no chance of any charges of it being pornographic.  But it's always there and frequently used as a threat against female characters.

The thing that stops me deciding an instant no to granting these advanced but younger students access to the books though, is that within the context of the story, this rape is entirely not only realistic, but in a horrible sense, true.  In times of war, particularly the sorts of wars that aren't fought by Generals pushing buttons and firing missiles, rape is a weapon.  It's happening today, in The Democratic Republic of Congo.  It's probably happening in other places too.  At various times in our history, it would have happened here too.  The vulnerability of women (and men, please don't think that I dismiss the sexual violence against men too, but in the context of GoT, so far at least, the threat has been focused on women) in times of war is an important subject and not one that should be ignored.  It's the normalising of rape within the story that worries me for younger readers, but I do feel that with a discussion about it first, and the inevitable follow up to reading these books (our advanced readers always sit at lunchtime and discuss what they've read and I know that these books would be discussed to death, as they are already with our older readers) that it would be an important issue to acknowledge, but not one that should prevent them reading them.  

So, what do you think?  GoT for advanced Year 9 readers?  If anyone could point me in the direction of research or guidance in this area I'd be grateful.


*What isn't matched is the intention of violence and cruelty, which is something that George R.R. Martin does really well.  We know that there are battles, we know that it's kill or be killed and that people will get their arms, legs and noses hacked off. But the nasty, little bits of violence that really get to you.  (Theon's fate. Whatever is happening in the deepest dungeons under King's Landing...) and those are the bits that I approve of the most.  Because they do disgust you.  Because they are scary, unglamorised, without honour, and hold present a much truer picture of violence than knights in shining armour fighting for their liege lords.

NaNoWriMo 2011

The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur* but we're now seven days into November, and we all know what that means.  NaNoWriMo is GO!

This year we have a staggering 59 students signed up to take part with us, and some added extras too: the younger brothers and sisters of some of our students who are still in Primary school but who have signed up and are working with us in our virtual classroom and visiting the library for the after-school write-ins.  The down side f numbers like this is that we only have 21 computers in the library, and they're heavily over used even when there aren't nearly 60 novelists trying to bash out 50,000 words before the end of the month.  We've been saved though, by Mrs Wilkins in ICT who has allowed our writers to use one of the ICT rooms most lunchtimes, and by Ms Twomey in MFL who has offered us use of their IT room too.

Additional salvation has come in the form of a very generous investment from our dedicated PTA, who have funded the purchase of ten new netbooks for use in the library.  This is a move that we couldn't have hoped to make with our current budget and makes a very significant difference to what we can offer our students. Once lending agreements have been drawn up and signed, there will also be the opportunity for these machines to be loaned out to students who don't have computers of their own, which will be a huge help to them during coursework crunch times.

So far our novelist have written a staggering 264,314 words, and we're beating the US school who challenged us to a Word War by 19% to 17%, which may seem like a small margin, but their target wordcounts are significantly lower than ours!  The level of ambition shown by our students is truly remarkable.  Almost as remarkable as the sheer numbers of snacks they can get through...



*This is not an exaggeration, have been ill and everything has been distinctly fuzzy...