The Margaret Mahy Library

At the start of this year the space in the library was reorganized with our fiction books all being moved to the other side of the library and the non-fiction moving across to take its place. The purpose of this move was to give more room to the non-fiction collection and create more of a relaxing area for students to browse the fiction area. So, after some days of book stacking, and many trolley loads later, we - the librarians - were happy with this move! The library was also able to purchase another rolling shelf to hold subject collections and enable flexible, moving work spaces for smaller or larger groups. Approximately 500 students come to the library each day and at intervals and lunchtime the chess boards, playing cards and books (yay!) come out and are popular activities. It’s great to see our regular students enjoying face to face interaction alongside the time used for gaming. Our school prefects also enjoyed hosting junior students from Apanui School to play chess in the library earlier in the year. This was when their classrooms were no longer usable due to the fire. At Easter time, the Whakatāne High School Centennial took place! Displays from our school archives were set up in the library. These included past school uniforms set on models and photographic displays, past year books as well as other memorabilia. A special thanks goes out to Stephen, Peta, Kirsten, Stevie and Riley for their help with these displays. Guests enjoyed walking through the library and catching up with each other and sharing past memories. This year, the library has prioritised the school’s fiction collection, purchasing some excellent new, exciting fiction texts. These new purchases have largely been handled by librarian, Rachel King, whose literary expertise is greatly valued. Rachel is fantastic at encouraging students’ reading (for pleasure or purpose) and ensuring literacy improvement remains the highest priority for the library. In terms of Whakatāne High School’s operation, the library is a multi-functional venue. This year the library held the Chess Masters’ Workshop Day and Regional Championships, Loves Me Not Programme training, Blue Light tutorials, Sport BOP, TPOOM, Iti Pounamu, Enrolment Interviews, ESOL and Deaf Awareness tutorials. This was in addition to all day and half day workshops for First Aid, the SEEDS Programme and Health and Safety Courses. This year, the library’s upstairs space was utilised for deans and student mentoring classes.

Also, a Book Club was established and held here, through connection with the Whakatāne District Library. It’s been awesome to see some of our junior students who generally say they don’t like reading, reciting poetry, discussing Shakespeare and really engaging. Thanks to Whakatāne District librarians, Sharni and Freddie, Mrs Renay Jones and her students for participating in this. Finally, thanks to our student librarians - Thomas, Belle and Isla - for your help in the library throughout the year! Librarians: Rachel King, Helen Rutledge