Library
Welcome to the SWA library
As well as supporting and assisting students with their academic studies, the library is devoted to encouraging students to read for pleasure
The library is located upstairs in block 20. We are open throughout the school day and beyond for all students and staff.
Our aim is to provide students with a purposeful learning environment in which, with our encouragement and support, they can achieve high standards of academic and personal achievement.
The library is very well used with approximately a thousand students visiting us each week. It is mainly open plan with areas for group and individual study, soft seating and beanbags are also available for relaxing and reading for pleasure. Our IT suite consists of 16 individual computer bays all of which have access to the internet and a printer.
We have a wealth of resources available including a well stocked selection of fiction and non-fiction books; journals and magazines; daily newspapers; DVD’s; Maps; CD’s; Internet Access; a subscribed database, study skills leaflets and lots more... If we don’t have what you are looking for then we will do our best to get it for you by either borrowing from another school or public library. All our resources are clearly labelled to allow students the option of locating them independently.
As well as supporting and assisting students with their academic studies, the library is devoted to encouraging students to read for pleasure and we have several lunch time clubs to inspire and create. Book vs Movie Club - Mondays; The Page Eaters - Wednesdays and Samwhit knit wits - Fridays. We are looking forward to taking part in the Carnegie National Shadowing Award Scheme and working towards creating a recommended reading list. The library works closely with our learning support department hosting their reading booster class three mornings a week and making sure that we have a good selection of resources for our less able readers.
We regularly check these websites below as they are great for reading reviews and finding out what’s hot or what’s not, they also have great competitions.
Students are encouraged to take part in our new Student Librarian Training Programme. We always have an exceptional number of student library helpers and in order to provide them with a more structured experience I have created a new training programme. The students work towards compiling a portfolio which contains evidence of completed duties including cataloguing, issuing and creating eye-catching displays. Upon completion the students receive a certificate, a badge and their portfolio which can be used to provide evidence of work experience once they have left school.
Our library management system is called Eclipse and can be accessed by using the button below.
The system is internet based and can be accessed from home as well as school and even downloaded onto a mobile phone or tablet. The catalogue can be searched without logging on however once logged on students can write reviews, make reservations and see which books they have on loan and when they need to be returned. When using the system from home, students can also make use of the hundreds of websites the library also has catalogued, these website are specially chosen for their academic value.
SWA library is continually evolving to suit the needs of its primary users - the students. Students are encouraged to help develop the library and we are always happy to receive requests or suggestions via our suggestions box, face to face or email lfreeman@bestacademies.org.uk.
‘Don’t just google it’ when searching the internet, google is the first search engine most of us go to. We would like to encourage students to go beyond google. If you can’t find what you’re looking for don’t give up, set yourself a time limit and then try a different search engine there are hundreds out there!