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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

How unusual is it for a school to have a library now?

54 replies

TunipTheUnconquerable · 02/12/2013 11:26

The comprehensive my dcs will go to in a few years recently got rid of its library. It didn't just rename the room (which is what I assumed when I first heard it), it actually got rid of the books.

How normal is this? Are school libraries basically a thing of the past apart from in private schools and grammars?

OP posts:

starfishmummy · 02/12/2013 11:31

Ds's school has a small library - basically just a room with books. I presume someone does "look after" it but no librarian.
And some of the books are well out of date - Ds brought one home about computers, it was written in 1998!!

Original poster

TunipTheUnconquerable · 02/12/2013 11:46

Do you think that's the norm now, then?
Aren't kids expected to borrow fiction books any more?

OP posts:

friday16 · 02/12/2013 12:16

it actually got rid of the books.

Sounds like a pretty shit school.

It's the sort of "hey, we're all down with kids and technology!" stuff that goes on for a few years before it goes into special measures.

enderwoman · 02/12/2013 12:17

Our local schools have libraries.

CaroBeaner · 02/12/2013 12:50

Our local comps have libraries.
And make good use of them, with active librarians, activities contributing to borough wide and regional reading and literacy events, using them for board games and computer access as well as books, holding lunchtime events ad homework clubs.

Original poster

TunipTheUnconquerable · 02/12/2013 13:20

Friday, that's my concern. It's meant to be an 'improving school' though. And the results aren't terrible.

OP posts:

Talkinpeace · 02/12/2013 13:44

DISGRACEFUL that they have got rid of the library.
Reference books, fiction books, journals, newspapers etc
there is NO excuse for dumbing down in a school.

JustSpeakSense · 02/12/2013 13:51

Our local comp has a library, with a librarian. Reading events, competitions, motivational speakers & author visits are common. The school also is a part of the 'Accelerated reader' programme (run by the English department & Library) Pupils are also brought down for library lessons during English lessons where they get to choose books (and sometimes have 'research projects' assigned to them by their English teacher). It is more than just about the books - it's whether the Head values books, reading and a love for reading? some just don't, sadly.

If you know this is a weakness at your child's school you may need to put extra effort into your child's love of books and reading (local libraries can be fantastic, ordering in books of interest, running holiday reading schemes & events). Not all parents will though...:-(

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic · 02/12/2013 13:53

The DSs school has a couple of libraries and they borrow books all the time. In fact it's a school requirement that all pupils have a reading book of some description with them at all times so I guess they have to have one to make it fair on pupils who come from homes that don't do books. IIRC Pupils can put in requests for books for the school to buy as they are published and they have waiting lists for the really popular new ones (DS2 is always desperate for the Skulduggery Pleasant ones)

mimbleandlittlemy · 02/12/2013 14:03

Ds's school has a big library and they have at least one library based lesson a week where they go and read/take out books/do reading challenges/read with 6th formers.

NoComet · 02/12/2013 14:05

DD1 lives in the school library

MissMilbanke · 02/12/2013 14:07

Never heard of this and i have 3 kids at 3 different schools.

BrianButterfield · 02/12/2013 14:08

Our school library has 18,000 books, is constantly getting new, interesting books in, has them arranged in useful and tempting ways (great displays, similar books grouped together etc) and knowledgeable and friendly staff.

In the English dept we've just been working with them on a reading rewards scheme that offers thw chance to collect stickers/awards for every level of reader, from SEN to bookworm - I'd hate for us to not have a library as it is such a great resource.

notso · 02/12/2013 14:14

DD's school is in special measures and has a library, with a librarian. They have library lessons.

offblackeggshell · 02/12/2013 14:16

3 x DDs, 3 different schools, all have libraries, and the secondary has a full time librarian. Very, very high achieving, non selective secondary.

Original poster

TunipTheUnconquerable · 02/12/2013 14:22

Thank you everyone. This is both depressing and reassuring.
Reassuring to know that school libraries are still out there and depressing in terms of what it says about our local school!

It's not so much that I'm worried my own kids won't learn to love reading as a result, it's what it says about the school's attitude to both learning and culture.

OP posts:

kreecherlivesupstairs · 02/12/2013 14:25

DDs secondary school has a fabulous library/resource centre. It's another that will order books that she wants.
I think it says a lot about her school, that they insist that the students have a book to read at all times.

AvonCallingBarksdale · 02/12/2013 14:28

Sounds very odd. We just looked around prospective secondaries - Grammars and non-selective and they all had sizeable libraries. Real shame not to, I think.

Marmitelover55 · 02/12/2013 15:49

I looked around a few secondary schools for DD1 and they all had libraries, including the less high achieving schools. At DD1's new secondary they also have to have a reading book on them at all times.

GreenShadow · 02/12/2013 16:10

I think they will quickly find they have made a big mistake.

Even if they get rid of all non-fiction, a school really needs to maintain a good selection of fiction to make accessing books as easy as possible for the students.

mumeeee · 02/12/2013 17:45

All Secondary schools have libraries round here and so do the colleges. It helps the students to access books for their courses rather than having to buy them. I would be vert wary of any school without a library.

intitgrand · 02/12/2013 17:51

never heard of a school primary or secondary, without a library.

lljkk · 02/12/2013 17:56

DS school has one English session a fortnight in the dark crowded dingy library, to try to encourage them to read. They work on things like spelling & handwriting during this lesson. It's a tucked out of the way room.

Local HS has library next to entrance lobby (small but highly visible).

DD HS has library smack between 5 different classrooms; constant thru traffic. It's the biggest & nicest one, I reckon.

GinAndIt · 02/12/2013 18:15

The two comps near us have libraries, though one a little more inspiring and user-friendly than the other tbh.

I don't think I would send my child to a school without a library, if I had a choice. It says something quite fundamental about the attitude to learning, to finding out for oneself rather than just asking google. I know technology is a marvellous thing but I find it beyond depressing that some schools consider libraries obsolete.

Ds loves the library at his school. He goes there every morning as he gets in early, he goes there at lunchtime if he doesn't have clubs. He's spent time with the archivist and on his first week there learned a very irritating song about the Dewey decimal system .

friday16 · 02/12/2013 18:20

I find it beyond depressing that some schools consider libraries obsolete.

You can be confident that Eton and super-selective grammars don't, and you can be confident that Oxford aren't closing the Bod any time soon. So what you're left with is people who probably think they're progressive and liberal and stuff deciding to give children largely from less fortunate backgrounds an education that would be deemed substandard by those who are more fortunate. Yet again we see teachers taking people who would most benefit from a rigorous high quality education and denying it them. You can be absolutely certain that teachers who teach in schools without libraries don't send their own children there: McEducation for the proles, something rather better for the party cadre.

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