A article from the School Librarian as originally published in the Newsletter on May 8th, 2015.
Recent studies have shown that children typically disengage from reading for pleasure from around the age of 10 and that the amount they read decreases with time, with up to 36% of 14 year olds reading less than 1 book a month. (National Literacy Trust, 2006) The benefits of reading are well known, not only for educational needs, but for general knowledge, developing empathy, community participation and to gain insight into human nature and decision-making (Bruner, 1996). As our students reach adolescence and tackle an ever changing world it is essential we have a quality collection of books to engage, to guide and to help them better understand the world around them.
Primary school children are now older in Years 6 and 7 than in the past, due to changes in enrolment policies. Many of our Year 6 students are turning 12 as our Year 7 students are turning 13. Children typically have access to a much more mature collection in on-line and public libraries than is currently provided in our school.
One of the priority areas of improvement for our school library is to increase the size and scope of our Senior Fiction collection and to expanded the access to include Year 6s.
Over the upcoming months I will be working hard with our library team to develop and expand our senior fiction collection. This will include reorganizing some of the general collection and investing heavily in new books. While I have mentioned mature content, there is no need to be alarmed. The nature and themes of the books I’m talking about are comparative to the themes viewed on television in shows such as Neighbours or Home and Away. I research extensively when selecting books and read avidly to ensure I have an excellent knowledge of suitable books that I can connect our students with. In addition, our students make “Book Wishes” which are requests for books that are not in our collection which are used to help guide purchasing decisions.
I look forward to the challenge of providing a suitable collection to help nurture all of our students to become lifelong readers, including our senior students.