Library

At St Stephen’s, the library is at the centre of our school. It enriches the educational development of all students and aids the teachers in their planning, resourcing and teaching.

The development of a positive reading culture in our school is at the heart of our library service. The library provides students with access to an abundance of quality literature and aims to develop and nurture a love of reading in them all. We want their reading experiences to be positive and to promote a lifelong love of learning. Throughout the year, opportunities to broaden reading experiences are provided by visits from authors and illustrators, participation in Book Week activities and our annual Book Fair.

Students visit the library each week with their classroom teacher and participate in library lessons where the focus is on the effective and responsible use of information. Students access information in a variety of formats: both print and digital. With the emergence of online learning resources students are encouraged to access these both at school and at home.

Library lessons also provide opportunities for students to experience a variety of digital technologies in a fun way. Digital toys, games and robotics give students a taste of the fast growing world of coding and robotics.

Students also visit the library weekly to browse and borrow their books for the week. Students are encouraged to keep their books in their library bag. School vinyl bags, which provide maximum protection for books, are available from the school at a cost of $6.00.

All learning resources, both physical and digital, are managed through the library and may be accessed by all students and their families. In addition, the library has a small parent library which offers a variety of titles around ideas for parents. Our community swap library is available to staff and parents. The ‘take a book … bring a book’ concept allows for the sharing of books throughout our community.