Book Awards
We encourage students to participate in shadowing for book awards, which involves them reading the shortlisted books, reviewing them and voting for their favourites. For both the Juniper and Carnegie awards, the shortlists and ultimate winners are chosen by librarians and students.
The Juniper Book Award is given to a book written for upper Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 readers. Six books are shortlisted, and the award competition lasts for six months with students voting for their favourite title and writing reviews of the shortlisted books, and the winner is announced in a ceremony in March.
We also celebrate the Carnegie shortlist and award by encouraging the students to read the shortlisted titles. Similarly, the students are able to upload reviews and vote for their favourite. Two Carnegie awards are eventually given each year, with one award being the Shadowers’ Choice for the most popular book among the readers.
Charity Events
We run charity events to raise money for the Living Hope School in Uganda. Students have been able to take part in the various activities on offer, including making Christmas trees and hedgehogs out of old books; watching a film; eating cream tea and buying books at a book sale. All the money raised is donated to the Living Hope School in Uganda.
World Book Day
Every year the CCHS library has celebrated World Book Day on the first Thursday of March with quizzes and other activities such as author visits. Well-known children’s authors have visited the library in the past, including Sally Nicholls, Sophia Bennett, Julia Green, Joss Stirling and Sufiya Ahmed to name but a few. In March 2020, award-winning author of the Slated Trilogy, Teri Terry, entertained students on why she became an author. Sufiya Ahmed visited in March 2023 and talked about her work in women’s and South Asian activism as well as her historical fiction books featuring real heroines Princess Sophia Duleep Singh and Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan. Hayley Barker has joined the teaching staff at the school, and as a published author of the Showstopper series we were pleased that she was able to offer a talk to students, including reading an extract of her book and a question-and-answer session. Staff and students have previously been able to dress up as a book or book character.
Student Activities
Book Groups
The Library staff run book groups for Year 7, 8 and 9 students. The students meet on a regular basis to discuss books they have been enjoying – and books they have not liked quite so much! They are also able to discuss opinions about specific genres and authors, and hopefully take some inspiration to try something new. The book groups are involved in shadowing the Carnegie and Juniper book awards, and writing insightful reviews of the shortlisted books.
