Learning Resource Centre

The Mansuri Library

‘Above all, our aim is to support your work, and to promote a life-long relationship with books and learning’

The Mansuri Library is a bright and open space suitably equipped and furnished to support the study requirements of the modern independent learner.

The library currently holds 6,000 volumes fairly evenly split between fiction and non-fiction and it is planned for this to grow over the next two years to hold a stable collection of 10,000 volumes.  We also have a growing range of digital media including DVDs.  We are in the process of preparing our music collection.

The library is equipped for computer based learning with computer terminals as well as lap-tops when increased computing capacity is required.  We also have a range of digital media devices including MP3 players and recorders, DVD players and digital cameras.

You are always welcome to check in with us if your child uses the library after school – just call us directly and we will let you know. We realise our students sometimes lose track of time or forget to inform their parents they are staying late at school.

Personal reading and personal learning are the two drivers of our library and learning resource centre.

In operational terms:

The library opens at 8am and remains open until 5.30pm to maximise access to our services when they are most useful to students.

The library holds daily newspapers covering a variety of political viewpoints and reading ages

We also carry magazines from a range of teenage interests

The library computing facilities are linked to the rest of the school so students use the same log-in information

No library cards are required we use the same card as for other areas, such as cashless catering


A statement from the reading agency:

‘Reading can transform people’s lives. The more you read, the more you know. The more you read, the more you imagine. The more you read the better you understand and the better you connect to people’
The Reading Agency

 

World Book Day 2010 podcasts from the Mansuri Library

Armistice Day Podcasts

A short series of poetry recordings made in recognition of Armistice Day

THE LATEST NEWS

  • Author Visit

    On January 10th we were delighted to welcome the author Phil Earle to school.  Phil is the author of Being Billy, a gripping story about a fourteen year old boy who has been in care for eight years and who is desperate to keep his family together. The event was attended by nearly fifty Year 8 students, some from our HAHS cohort.  Phil kicked off the session by reading the first half of his book’s prologue and then set the students a challenge – to write their own ending.   We...

  • Dickens 200

    This year we are very excited to be celebrating the life and work of Charles Dickens, marking the bicentenary of his birth, which falls on 7 February 2012.  We launched our Charles Dickens’ bicentenary celebrations in December 2011 with a special Deaf performance of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol devised by and starring actor David Ellington.  David played to a packed audience of pupils and their hearing friends from Jubilee School as well as students from our own Hearing Support Departmen...

  • Student Book Club

    Would you like a chance to read some great books and talk about them with your peers?  This is your opportunity to become a member of The Elmgreen School Library Book Club.  All students who share a love of reading are encouraged to come along.  We meet one a month on a Thursday during lunch break.  Interested?  Speak to a member of the Library Team for more details.

  • Re-design the cover of Lord of the Flies

    This year is the centenary of author William Golding’s birth, and to celebrate it a competition has been launched for budding young artists to re-design the front cover of one of the most famous books of the twentieth century – the classic novel Lord of the Flies. If you haven’t already read this book you have plenty of time to do so, because the competition is open until January 2012. 

  • Spiderwick Chronicles Author Visits The Elmgreen School

    Over the last couple of years we’ve been privileged to welcome some really big name authors to our school.  It  was no exception when The Spiderwick Chronicles author Tony DiTerlizzi came to talk to us about his latest book. DiTerlizzi entertained over 450 students from neighbouring primary schools as well as some of our own students from years 7 and 8.  “He was really funny,” said Ella, Year 8  “I think he should be a comedian as well as an author!” Unusually, DiTerlizzi bot...

  • World Week - Culture in the Community

    As part of World Week the library team led a group of students on a Culture in the Community tour.  Our aim was to highlight the rich variety of parks, woods, museums and galleries right on our doorstep just waiting to be explored.  On Wednesday we started out at Sydenham Hill Woods where we found an old Victorian folly, an unused railway track and a 150 year old tree.  We then headed for the Horniman Museum where we toured the galleries and then took part in a workshop.  &nb...

  • Alternative Carnegie book list

    Last week our Carnegie Book Club was delighted to hear that Patrick Ness, author of the brilliant Chaos Walking series had won the Carnegie Prize.  The prize winning book, Monsters and Men is the third in a thrilling trilogy that will have hanging on to the edge of your seat. Whilst the Carnegie Prize is awarded every year from a list drawn up by a team of librarians, our book club decided there should be an alternative list drawn up by the readers themselves. This year our nominations are:...

  • Speed poetry in the Library

    Last Friday we welcomed poet Wendy French to our library to hold a poetry workshop at lunchtime.  The event was a great success, and despite limited time, Wendy still managed to get all our students writing their own poetry.   Here are some examples – we think they are fantastic, particularly as they were written in less than five minutes!  Speed poetry if you like.... I am the boy who reads these words I am the words that sliver down the page I am the page that was once a tr...

  • Waterstones Visit

    Some of the best people to choose the books for our Library are the students.  We held a competition recently with the English Department, inviting students to think about which books might be best suited to readers in our school. Participants were asked to present their recommendations in front of their class, Ms Lord and the Library team. We were looking for literature which could excite younger and older readers alike, books with exciting and unexpected plots, with memorable characters, ...

  • Easter sign and story session

    The Hearing Support department welcomed 18 deaf children from Jubilee School for an Easter egg hunt and a sign and story session in the library.  The event was planned by Michael Bullen and organised by Year 8 student Shanade who was also responsible for meeting and greeting our visitors on arrival.  Before the event, Adam, Awa, Shanade and Shai-Anne had hidden chocolate eggs in the garden, which with the sun shining, the trees in blossom, and the daffodils in full bloom looked beautif...

  • Book reviews, author interviews and more...

    Launched on World Book Day the Guardian Children’s Book website is a great new resource for book lovers everywhere.  Log on to join in online discussions such as ‘Do film adaptations ruin books for you?’ or ‘Which 50 books should be on a school reading list?’   The website’s content is constantly changing, but at the time of going to press there is an interview posted with Charlie Higson, a podcast of David Tennant reading ‘My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece’ and a roundup of the ...

  • ‘You must read this, it’s a classic’

    You may have noticed that in the library we have quite an extensive ‘classics’ section.  So what makes a book a classic?  This is a question that critics and writers have struggled with for a long time.  On one level, a ‘classic’ is believed to be an especially noteworthy text, something that can stand the test of time and mean something to successive generations.  An Italian writer called Italo Calvino once defined a classic as ‘a book that has never finished what it has to ...

  • Create your own graphic novel

    If you love manga and harbour ambitions to author your own graphic novel or comic strip, we have discovered a great website to help you on your way. Set up by Reading for Life, Comic Master enables you to create your own graphic novel.  It’s simple – they provide the online tools so you can let your creativity run riot.  At the click of a mouse you can decide how you want your pages to look; add backgrounds; choose characters and props to appear in your scenes; add dialogue, captions a...

  • National storytelling week

    During National Storytelling Week staff read stories to our students in the library every lunchtime.  Our theme this year was Memories from Childhood – books we read ourselves when we were younger, or books that were read to us. On Monday, Ms Foster read an excerpt from Roald Dahl’s Matilda and Ms West transported us back to our pre-school years with her rendition of The Gruffalo’s Child.  Tuesday saw Ms Atkinson reading Brother Eagle, Sister Sky followed by Benjamin Zephaniah’s  ...

  • Watch a film after school

    Watch a film after school The library staff would like to remind all students that we currently have six portable DVD players for loan at the end of the school day.   You can’t take the players off site, but you can come to the library after school and watch one of our DVD’s.  We have a good selection of films including: Chicago; The Bourne Identity; The Adventures of Robin Hood; Emma; Pride and Prejudice; The Mask of Zorro; Cut Throat Island; Holes or Rabbit Proof Fence. Older st...

  • Cornelia Funke visit

    We were fortunate enough to secure a visit from an international bestselling author Cornelia Funke. 

  • Win an iPod shuffle

     By entering our poetry competition

  • National Poetry Day - Thursday 7 October

    It's all about home!

  • WeRead Events 2010

  • Champion Readers

    Certificates have been given to the library's top borrowers!

  • Cook Books Galore

    If you enjoy cookery club at The Elmgreen School, you'll like these...
  • Fairy Tale Readings

    Thanks to those who attended our wonderful fairy tale sessions...
  • Lemony Snicket Visit

    We were very excited about Lemony Snicket's visit in December...
  • Mark Walden visit

    Read all about what happened when HIVE author Mark Walden came to the school

  • Christmas is around the corner

    Exciting Christmas reading ideas...

  • Champion Reader

    50 books in three months!
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