Notes from the Library

These last three years have included some of the strangest times in my nearly three decades as a school librarian. 2019-20 featured a wonderful first two terms of high borrowing rates, an exciting buzz for reading and book talks; with the library being overflowing with varying activities.

But from Easter 2020 onwards everything morphed into a very different beast, with lockdowns, long closures, and the Library being used as the hub for Year 12 pupils when we were operating in bubbles. For much of the time we were able to operate a ‘Click and Collect’ service, and some of our traditional activities, including book talks and clubs, moved online or into the classrooms.

2021-22 has been a much more traditional school year, with normal access returning and pupils enjoying our fantastic selection of books and magazines. Over this period we also moved to a fantastic new library catalogue system called ‘Accessit’, which pupils have enjoyed exploring. We also now lend e-books. Chess has also made a major comeback and there are always many matches being played in the library.

Over the next few pages, we look back at some of the highlights and the pupils who have contributed to our various activities and successes run via the library.

The CWIZZ (2019)

Back in May 2019 we entered ‘The CWIZZ’ for the sixth successive year and came a commendable fourth at a tight competition hosted by Latymer Upper School and organised by a collective of South London authors. Over twenty Emanuel pupils attended practices, vying for the eight spots on the two teams; they were: Oscar (8LCC), Atitiya (8HEB), Emma (8LCC), Hope (8HEB), Isabelle (7RDC), Imogen (7RDC), Freya (7SFP) and Capucine (6ERM)

The CWIZZ (2022)

After cancellations in 2020 and 2021, we were delighted to welcome ‘The CWIZZ’ back to Emanuel for the first time in six years. As hosts, we were able to enter four teams and our 16 players had a fabulous time, with our three teams finishing first, fifth and ninth out of over thirty teams. Our players were Macsen (8MM), Oliver (8RDC), Kitty (7AFH), Ellie (7CJR), Rory (8AFK), Dougie (8MSH), Noah (8HAB), Effie (7JRS), Emilie (7JRS), Anna (7HAB) and Selina (7CJR). The book knowledge of our quizzers was fantastic and we were thrilled to win this competition for the first time since 2017.

Kids’ Lit Quiz (2019)

In our tenth successive year competing in the super-tough Kids’ Lit Quiz we finished a battling tenth, the same position as 2018, out of almost fifty teams. This long-running international book quiz competition is incredibly good fun but can be fiendishly tricky with the quiz-master firing questions at lightning-fast speed. Fifteen children competed for the eightplaces on the teams: Isabelle (7RDC), Katie (7KSA), Alex (7MSH), Edie (7KSA), Isabella (7KSA), Annabel (7RDC), Lakshmi (7SKA) and Imogen (7RDC).The 2020 and 2021 editions of the event were cancelled and it now sadly looks like this international competition will no longer have a UK section.

Lower School Form Lit Quiz (2020)

The Lower School Literary Quiz returned in January 2020 for the fifth successive year with another supertight contest which combines speed on the buzzer and book knowledge. 6ERM won the Year 6 section; 7HEB were victorious in the Year 7 group; and the Year 8 kings were 8RDC. The all-conquering 8RDC then won the prestigious Neale Shield and were crowned Lower School Champions. Their team consisted of: Sophie, Dorothy, Annabel, Isabelle, Imogen and Phoebe They later defeated two Year 9 teams organised by Atitiya (9NS). This competition was not possible in 2021, but returned with a huge bang in spring 2022.

Lower School Form Lit Quiz (2022)

The 2022 version of this popular event was a riproaring success with the usual battle between Year 6, 7 and 8 Forms an exciting affair. 6USC were triumphant in the Year 6 section; 7AFH won for Year 7; and 8RDC won in the elder age group. The four-way final between 7AFH, 7CB, 6USC and 8RDC was an exciting contest which also brought in a huge crowd of spectators. 7AFH were very worthy winners — amongst the best quiz teams of recent years — and it was fantastic to see a Year 7 team win the title again. It was lovely to hold this competition after a two-year absence and present the winners with the Neale Shield, named after former teachers John and Sue.

The Psychotronic Book Club (2019-22)

Covid-19 was not going to get the better of The Psychotronic Book Club! This is one of Emanuel’s longest running clubs and attracts a great band of teenagers who love weird and cult fiction, with the last couple of years having a major focus on horror. Over the last three years, our most committed members have been: Freya (L6SMJ), Pablo (U6RJB), Jeanne (11BJR), Emily (L6JTB), Maddie (L6HC), Lucy (L6JTB), Esme (L6LAB) and Emma (11RET). We have discussed some great books from famous authors such as Margaret Atwood and Susan Hill to the obscurer areas of cult side of literature including Toby Luff, Alden Bell and Andrew Michael Hurley.

In 2020/21, as there was no mixing of year group bubbles, the club temporarily morphed into a Year 11 club with students sampling the delights of Paul Tremblay and Agustina Bazterrica, amongst other dark fiction. In 2021/22 we returned to being a club for Year 10+ and enjoyed novels by Adam Nevill, Gus Moreno, Joshua Gaylord, Stephen King and Gabriel Bergmoser. It is always so refreshing to bounce around ideas and thoughts about books everybody loves!

Lit Quiz Club (2020-22)

Due to the bubble system, the Lower School Lit Quiz Club adapted and temporarily became a Year 7 club in 2020, with our top players being Macsen (7MM), Rory (7AFK), Summer (7AFK), Douglas (7SMH), Elsa (7AFK), Devin (7MM), Jack-Francis (7SMR), Humphrey (7MM), Carlos (7SMR), Sam (7MSH) and Maxi (7HAB). As these pupils had no access to the library it was very nice to visit the Year 7 classrooms and have the opportunity to both quiz and chat about books

In September 2021 the Lit Quiz Club returned as an activity for pupils in Years 6, 7 and 8 and was used as a springboard to select pupils for the National Reading Championship Online Quiz and The CWIZZ. Many pupils attended these sessions and our top players included: Rory (7AFK), Douglas (7SMH), Effie (7JRS), Macsen (7MM), Kitty (7AFH), Noah (8HV), Selina (7CJR), Ellie (7CJR) and Emilie (7AFH)

National Reading Championship Online Quiz (2021)

Eight pupils who regularly attended the Lower School Lit Quiz Club participated in the inaugural online National Reading Championship, a new event aimed at replacing other competitions cancelled due to Covid. There were over thirty heats across the UK, with us entering the highly competitive South London section, which featured the likes of Dulwich Prep, Latymer Upper, Eltham College, and City of London Boys. Our eight Year 7 players had a great time and were amused by eccentric presenter ‘Mr Dilly’ who even had staff members doing dances via the Microsoft Teams live feed!

Our excellent ‘A’ Team players were Elsa (7AFK),Macsen (7MM), Jack-Francis (7SMR) and Sam (7MSH), ably supported by our talented ‘B’ Team: Carlos (7SMR),Rory(7AFK), Douglas (7SMH) and Humphrey (7MM).There were almost fifty teams in the hunt and we were delighted to be placed fourth (‘A’ Team) and thirteenth (‘B’ Team). It was a very enjoyable morning and everybody had a lot of fun.

In 2022, we were delighted to hear that the National Reading Championship was returning for a second year, even though faceto-face book activities had already resumed. We entered this with high expectations as many of the pupils had been involved in lots of internal quizzes and knew their facts when it came to book knowledge. In the end we came an amazing second (‘B’ team) and fourth (‘A’ team), with everybody having a fun time, defeating many top schools. The pupils involved were Macsen (8MM), Kitty (7AFH), Emilie (7AFH), Effie (7JRS), Rory (8AFK), Ellie (7CJR), Joseph (7JRS) and Anna (7HAB)

The Trinity School Book Award: Six Book Challenge (2019/20)

The Trinity School Book Award each year has its own ‘Six Book Challenge’ which many pupils in Years 7-8 read over the autumn term. In 2019/20, the theme connecting the books was ‘Stand Up, Shout Out!’

An impressive number of pupils entered both sections of the competition: the 500 Word Review and the Creative Response. Our winners in the review category were Esme (7LAS) and Alice (7HEB) and for the Creative Response, Esme (7LAS) again and Jonathan (8RJA). The responses were incredibly difficult to judge, but we loved Esme’s amazing folk song ‘When Will You See the Light?’, inspired by the novel Ghost Boys, and Jonathan’s wonderful recreation of a section of Hadrian’s Wall. Many other pupils produced outstanding work and runner up prizes were awarded to Freya (8RJA), Alex (8LVD), Sergio (7SVW) and Elena (7CY)

The TSBA event concluded when we took a group of pupils to the prize winning event hosted by City of London Boys’ School.We had the opportunityof listening to the authors Tanya Landman, Andrew Norriss and Nicky Singer discuss their books and have a book signing. We were absolutely thrilled to scoop two of the big prizes (considering around thirty schools were involved) for both Esme (7LAS), who won first prize for her song, and Alice (7HEB), who was second with her review.

(2020/21)

The TSBA returned in autumn of 2020 with some tricky challenges as the year groups were in bubbles and could not mix, making running the event more complex than normal. However, with a theme of ‘Being Human’ many pupils attempted the ‘Six Book Challenge’ and participated in the Zoom activities about the books.

This year Esme (8AEM) and Oliver (7RDC) won the review category and Nahom (6HCW) triumphed in the creative section, along with Oliver (7RDC) who completed a fantastic double victory. There were other strong entries and we gave runner up prizes to Diana (6CAL), Grace (6CAL), Kitty (6CB), Charlotte (8WGD), Charlotte (8AFH), Jessie (6CAL) and Nahom (6HCW). For the first time we also held an online quiz event which was won by Liam (7HAB), with Oliver (7RDC) coming second and Charlotte (8AFH) third. Due to Covid the multi-school award ceremony became an online event which many pupils streamed, with a delighted Oliver (7RDC) picking up first prize in the Creative Response category for his fantastic film which linked all the books together.

(2021/22)

For 2021/22 it was ‘business as usual’ as the bubbles were gone and pupils got back into the swing of the latest Six Book Challenge which had the theme of ‘Second Chances’. Our two winners of the Creative Response section were Oliver (8RDC) and Nico (7HAB), whilst the winners in the Review section were Grace (7PM) and Jun (8MSH). We were also delighted to award six runner up prizes to Anya (6CAL), Poppy (7PM), Violet (6USC), Ruby (7HAB), Isadora (6USC) and Hannah (7EB). Due to the complications with Covid the award ceremony was once again online, but we were over the moon to win two prizes for Oliver (8RDC) and Nico (7HAB) in the multischool Creative Response section for very imaginative films inspired by two of the books.