Grand opening of our school library

St Joseph’s officially opened our new school library on 28 May 2021.

After a blessing by Father Anthony, the ceremonial ribbon was cut by our Chair of Governors, Mrs Bailey, officially opening our brand new library for all our pupils.

Congratulations to Messrs Navarro (School Business Manager), McEvoy (School Caretaker), Picoe (Site Operative) and our contractors, Messrs Johnson, Kiddo and Matthews for a successful project, converting the Garden Hall into a haven for our young readers.

This included:

a full re-decoration of the Garden Hall’s interior and exterior, including adjoining kitchen and bathrooms
new bookshelves (recycled from the old library) and enclosed seating area with colourful stools and bean bags to sit on and read
new high-efficiency LED lighting and refurbished heating system
new tables and chairs (colour-coded to match our school houses)
new display boards for recent pictures including our Nature competition entries
creation of an adjoining outdoor reading / classroom space with bark surface and refurbished benches

Reading and writing continues to be a strength for our school so this is a significant milestone and a long-term investment for our pupils, especially leading up to our 150th year.

English curriculum at St Joseph’s

St Joseph’s awarded Quality Mark for English and Maths

Our new library is jam-packed with hundreds of new titles, especially selected by our pupils and guided by our literacy leads, Miss Bickmore and Mrs Tope. Special thanks to Mrs Fernandes (Headteacher), Mrs Gallagher (Deputy Headteacher) and Mr Defty (Assistant Headteacher) who gave up their weekend to organise and catalogue the books in our library. We are on the lookout for student librarians to take over after half-term so if you or your children are interested, please let Mrs Fernandes know!

Click here for pictures of the grand opening

Our thanks also to all the parents and staff who have donated to our library fund as well as donating books from their own collections. It is not too late to contribute – please go to your parentpay account and click on the ‘Gift Aid’ consent button to make your donation go even further. Alternatively, you could buy a book (or books) from the lists below and donate it to the library. We are happy for you to buy the book and bring it in when your child returns to school after the half-term.

Click here for a suggested list from Croydon LA Click here for a suggested list from the Literacy Trust

Finally, the School would like to thank Ms Slater from Dulwich Books who helped us to source our books as well as generously donating display materials for the grand opening. After restrictions ease, we shall organise author events with Dulwich Books, where we invite featured authors to meet and read to our pupils.

Click here for Dulwich Books’ website

Other links which you may be interested in:

St Joseph’s pupil wins short story competition

Poem of the month (St Joseph’s student poet)