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Library

Our library is at the heart of Highlands School and has a vast selection of resources for all students during their journey here. We believe reading is a huge part of their educational and emotional development, and we are passionate about the library being a place that all students are welcome to visit as regularly and as often as possible.

Library opening hours are 8:30am – 4:15pm Monday to Thursday, Friday closed at 4pm.

We operate a no eating or drinking, no gaming and no mobile phone policy in the library.

Books and ICT suites

We have a vast library with plenty of space to accommodate all our students’ needs.

  • We have 14,000 books which support literacy and research across the whole school.
  • We have a vast collection of fiction books ranging from Classics and Literature to Sports books.
  • All books are lent for free to students for 14 days. We ask students to respect and look after their loaned books and return them on time in the same condition they were lent, for other students to borrow.

 

Literacy initiatives

It is our passion to get students reading throughout their stay at Highlands, we have introduced various initiatives to promote reading.

  • We have a mobile library where the librarian visits the students in class and lends books.
  • Year 7s have library lessons every fortnight to encourage consistent reading and reading activities.
  • Our eBook platform is aimed at reluctant readers to encourage reading via other means.
  • We subscribe to 'The Day' which is a daily newspaper aimed at students to encourage independent thinking.
  • We subscribe to Britannica which is an easy-to-use resource to support research.

 

Britannica School

Britannica School is an award-winning online digital resource.  It is an easy-to-use resource to encourage research and independent learning.  The product provides easy access to a range of age-appropriate multimedia materials, journals, articles, magazines, video and images.  Access is available inside and outside school and can be used on any device including computers, laptops and tablets.  The information provided is guaranteed safe, correct and valid.  You can 'favourite' articles, read-aloud, print, cite and enlarge fonts.  

(Log in with your School Google email and password)

 

Events

We have monthly themes to promote and support reading:

  • On World Book Day we have published author visits where all students can be booked in to meet them and take part in workshops.
  • We support Olympiad for new year 7s to encourage them to start as they mean to go on.

 

Useful websites for homework

The following sites have been recommended by departments for students to use for homework:

 

The Day Newspaper

The Library has a subscription with an on-line newspaper called 'The Day'.  This is a daily news service for use in schools and colleges and is designed for use in class, assembly and form time. 

 

Track My Read

This website is a fun way to get reading.  During English lessons students are encouraged to read, and this online tool is a way to share your reading habits with your teacher.

To log your own reading minutes click on the button below:

 

Wheelers eBooks

We are pleased to announce our continuing support for the Wheelers eBook platform!

This gives every student at Highlands School free access to hundreds of books which they can access from any electronic device at home or in school.  Whilst nothing replaces traditional reading, we have found that reading from an electronic device assists reluctant readers and those with reading difficulties.  It is also great for those who keep losing their books!

Access to the eBook platform is available via any browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Chrome) or via an app (see the leaflet below which explains how to set up the app), click on the link below to get started.  When you want to borrow a book, log in with your Highlands School username and use the password 'reading' (all in lowercase).

“The more you read, the more things you will know, the more you learn, the more places you’ll go’

(Dr Seuss)