What's new

Create dazzing displays in a day

Tuesday 26 June: 9.30am to 3.30pm
Schools Library Centre

Download more information and booking details below:

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Our service in 2012

Over the last year we have introduced many changes to the service and here are five things you may not know about us ….

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OFSTED report: Moving English Forward

The new Ofsted report, Moving English Forward, asks that schools do more to introduce whole-school approaches to reading for pleasure and suggests appointing reading advocates to ensure teachers stay up-to-date with new books.

Download the report from the Ofsted website.

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Carnegie and Greenaway shortlists finally announced

Available on the Carnegie Greenaway Shadowing website.

Will you be setting up a shadowing group?

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Digital literacy - Preparing our children and young people for the future.

We are building an online library of resources you might like to use as you prepare your pupils for the digital world. The library is growing and changing on a daily basis, so visit regularly. To access the library go to our subscribers' website and click on Digital Literacy. (This site is only available to subscribing schools - please call us if you have forgotten how to access it).

There is nothing new here, we've just gathered together a few starters into one place. We hope they will save you time and be useful signposts to resources to use as you prepare your pupils for the new digital world. They are intended to be used as spring boards - a few ideas to whet the appetite.

Here are some things to think about as you dip in and out of these guides:

• It is better to teach children and young people to use the internet safely rather than filter and ban certain sites
• 65 per cent of children will be doing jobs in the year 2020 that don't even exist at the moment
• Young people don't need to know things now, they need to learn how to search, evaluate, be creative
• The internet has been referred to as the super highway. Young people need to be taught how to drive and navigate. They need guidance and signposting. They need advice and recommendations to help them reach fulfilling destinations.

The guides are signposts to a range of websites with some starter ideas for activities that will engage your pupils in reading and learning beyond the printed format.

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We can extend your Reading Scheme for you

We supply:

• a wide selection of titles that are colour coded matching national curriculum levels
• titles that link into Ginn 360 and Oxford Reading Tree schemes
• titles which may be purchased through us and will become part of your twice-yearly exchanges
• titles which may be borrowed as topic collections

Download more information below:

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Free European resources for schools

Studying a European language, geography, history or citizenship?

Europe Direct Plymouth has a wide range of free resources to give to schools.

Free European resources [68KB]

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Picture book competition

We are inviting pupils aged four to 18 years to make their own picture book in this year's ReadingZone Picture Book Competition, judged by Jacqueline Wilson's illustrator and picture book creator Nick Sharratt. Why not use the activity as part of your World Book Day celebrations?!

More details and how to enter are on the Reading Zone website.

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New digital resources

Schools who subscribe to our standard package now have access to the curriculum visions ebooks at no extra cost. This is for a six month trial period and, if well used, we hope to extend this for a further six months.

Two secondary schools and two primary schools are trialling echalk for 12 months. At the end of this review period we will be assessing whether to provide this resource as part of the PSLS standard package subscription.

From February to May, a group of secondary school librarians and secondary subject specialists will be reviewing post 16 e-resources. If there is good feedback and lots of suggestions for purchase we will be offering these resources to our secondary schools as part of their subscription.

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The Library Book

Details are emerging of 'The Library Book', a celebratory book on libraries due to be published in support of the very first National Libraries Day on Saturday 4 February 2012. The book will feature writers such as Stephen Fry, Alan Bennett, Zadie Smith, Kate Mosse and Caitlin Moran amongst others, describing libraries real or imagined, past, present, and future - why they matter and to whom. All royalties from the book will be donated by the contributors to The Reading Agency to support their work in inspiring people to read more.

The book will be available on National Libraries Day.

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Coming soon (April 2012)

Using Web 2.0 technologies to enhance learning skills and develop the reading culture in your school.

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Helping to develop library and research skills

If you want to develop your pupils' library and research skills we have a wide-range of worksheets for you to download from our subscriber's website. (If you have forgotten the password please contact us with the name of the school you teach in).

The worksheets are divided into four sections:

• Introducing libraries and books
• Fiction
• Non-fiction
• Research

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Lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) booklists

We are building a collection of resources for schools and families to support work that is being done in the city and to raise awareness of sexual differences and support children and young people living in different families and/or exploring their own sexuality.

Download the list of books that can be borrowed from us or the Public Library Service. We will let you know as and when it is updated.

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