Life in St Catherine’s Nicholas and Barbreck Libraries continues to be busy.  

We were delighted to welcome Ms Marissa Caluzzi to our team this term in the role of Teacher Librarian in Barbreck. Marissa comes to us with a wealth of experience, enthusiasm and energy and is proving a wonderful addition to our Library Team.  

Library staff endeavour to keep the connections between the Library and the broader curriculum strong. Year levels from Years 7 through to 11 have been hosted for wider reading sessions throughout Terms 1 and 2, focusing on mentor texts relating to the English curriculum.  

Term 2 has begun with our annual Game of Loans reading challenge for Years 7 and 8, supporting the English Faculty’s goal to create a reading culture. Each English class competes in their Year level to read the highest number of books over the term.  

This year’s Harry Potter theme has been popular, with classes being allocated a Hogwarts House name as their team’s name for the duration of the competition. Every week there is great anticipation ahead of the tallies being displayed on the leaderboard. For bonus points, participants can also complete a Book Bingo card, designed to expose students to a wide range of literary genres.  

Co-curricular clubs and activities are an integral part of any school library. In our Senior School, Book Club continues to thrive. Term 1’s read-together book, Suzy Zail’s Inkflower, was very well received. We used the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s judging criteria to evaluate the novel and agreed that it was a worthy contender for this year’s Young Adult Fiction Prize.  

The group’s feedback on our Term 2 novel, Kate J. Armstrong’s fantasy, Nightbirds, has been enthusiastic so far. Its combination of magical realism and differing character perspectives, set in a world reminiscent of America’s 1920s prohibition era and the seventeenth-century witch trials, makes for a fascinating read. We are looking forward to seeing how our Book Club ‘judges’ rank these books against each other.