At St. Peter’s we have a strong reading culture and ethos – it is at the heart of everything we do.

At St. Peter’s we have a dedicated and committed Junior Librarian Team who have been chosen to specifically champion and promote reading across the whole school community. Junior Librarians are responsible for ensuring that the library is a vibrant and stimulating environment which fosters the children’s love of reading.

How are Junior Librarians chosen?

Each class elects a Junior Librarian.  The Junior Librarians are presented with Junior Librarian badges so they can be easily identified around the school, which they wear proudly!  Our Junior Librarians value their role and carry out their duties responsibly to champion the importance of reading widely. The Junior Librarians:

• Look after the Library and ensure it is tidy
• Encourage others to treat the library with respect
• Encourage others to look after the books
• Help others to find the books they want and make recommendations
• Be role models during class library sessions; encouraging quiet reading time and helping to scan books for borrowing / returning
• Inspire others to develop a love of books and reading

The children at St. Peter’s understand that reading is very important, not just for the enjoyment it can bring us, but also because it:

1. Helps improve creativity and imagination
2. Helps us to learn
3. Increases our vocabulary
4. Improves our memory
5. Increases our concentration and attention span
6. Improves our writing skills

As well as undertaking their role during library or Guided Reading sessions, our Junior Librarians have helped to encourage the love of reading in a variety of ways, not least by taking an active role during World Book Day.  They enjoyed ‘buddying up’ with children from other year groups to share stories. This year they were also instrumental in helping to run the ‘book swap’.  Most recently, they have helped to lead a lunchtime story time club for the reception children, reading and sharing stories and doing book-related activities.

Plans are underway to create an ‘outdoor reading area’ with the view of expanding the love of reading by bringing it outside!  This will be a designated seated area where the children will have the opportunity to borrow books during the lunchtime break and sit in a comfortable space to quietly read and share stories.  This will be organised on a rota basis by the Junior Librarians, who will be responsible for loaning out books from a trolley and then ensuring their collection at the end.

One of our Junior Librarians described our library as: “being the best place in the world” and it is our hope that the other children in the school can feel inspired the same way, whether it be inside or outdoors!