Latest News
Junior Librarian User Group
We will be holding another Junior Librarian User Group at ELS on Tuesday 29 May, from 1.15pm to 3.15pm. This is free to attend, providing your school still pays Microlibrarian Helpdesk subscriptions - if you are unsure if this is the case, please ring Microlibrarian direct on 0161 449 9357. The session will be run by Lucy Crutchley from the company, and provides an ideal opportunity to refresh your knowledge of the product and learn about the updates to the system, which can make everything easier and quicker to achieve. There will also be time to ask general questions - however, very specific questions should still be raised with the Helpdesk as and when they arise.
If you would like to book a place on this free course, please email educationlibraryservice@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk. Places may be limited if demand is high so please state name(s) of staff wishing to attend, but we may only be able to offer one place per school. We will reply and confirm bookings.
World Book Night
On 23 April, thousands of readers across the country celebrated World Book Night by giving away 24 copies of one of their favourite books, to encourage others to read it. Lesley Simons, the manager here at ELS, was amongst these thousands of readers.
Lesley writes, "I was chosen to be a book giver for World Book Night this year. In September I will have been bowling in leagues for 40 years so decided it would be good if I could give out some of the books to my team mates at Lakeside Superbowl in Crewe. I picked "Someone Like You", a set of short stories by Roald Dahl as they are easy to dip in to and most of us remember "Tales of the Unexpected " when it was shown on TV in the late 70s - not long after I started to bowl. The recipients seem really pleased with their books.
"Most people know about the childrens books written by Roald Dahl but may not realise he also wrote adult books.The rest of my books will be given out to my team mates in the Nantwich and District Darts League at the West End Band in Crewe, when we next have a match."
Bowling team at Crewe on World Book Night.
Olympic Countdown
As expected, we have had lots of demand for Olympics project boxes. For those schools who submitted Olympics requests by the end of February, your projects were included with your last delivery of the Spring term.
For those schools that haven't requested Olympics projects yet, please be aware that whilst we will try our best to supply you with some resources for the beginning of the Summer term, we cannot guarantee this because we only have a finite number of resources on the Olympics. In the mean time, please go to our Resources and Links page for suggested websites on the Olympics and related topics.
Cheshire Schools Book Award 2012
The Cheshire Schools Book Award is aimed at fiction written for 11-14 year olds. The winner is chosen by reading groups set up in Secondary Schools in the area. On 19th October, over sixty pupils and staff from nine schools came to Education Library Service as we launched the Cheshire Schools Book Award 2012.
We were joined on the night by Curtis Jobling, designer of the multi-award-winning worldwide hit children's television show Bob the Builder and author and illustrator of numerous children's books. He held the audience spellbound as he talked about his work for younger children and drew some fantastic illustrations for us. Then he chatted about his books for older readers which include Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf and Wereworld: Rage of Lions. He whetted our appetite by telling us that he is currently writing the third volume in the Wereworld series and a fourth is to follow in 2012.
Then there was the grand unveiling of the shortlist for the Cheshire Schools Book Award. The shortlisted books are:
- David Almond - My Name is Mina
- Fiona Foden - Life, Death and Gold Leather Trousers
- Anthony Horowitz - Scorpio Rising
- Curtis Jobling - Rise of the Wolf
- Jon Mayhew - The Demon Collector
- Patrick Ness - A Monster Calls
- Mark Robson - The Devil's Triangle
Thank you to everyone who sent in nominations for next year's award. We will be sending out invitations soon to schools to take part in choosing the winner of the 2012 Cheshire Schools Book Award. Watch this space for further information.
Blue Peter Book of the Decade
'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' by Jeff Kinney has been voted the Best Children's Book of the Last 10 Years by Blue Peter fans.
Blue Peter shortlisted the 10 best-selling children's fiction books of the last 10 years, allowing for one book per author, and invited children to vote for their favourite. 'Candyfloss' by Jacqueline Wilson came second. Visit the Blue Peter website for more information.
Resources Available from Education Library Service
We've just finished updating all the catalogues of resources that you can borrow from Education Library Service. As well as prepacked project boxes, there are objects, story sacks, audio books and guided reading sets available. Why not have a look at the Resources and Useful Links section on our website to find out more about the wide range of resources we have available for you to loan.
Eco-Schools: Resources to Help Your School Go Green
In response to frequent requests from schools to support 'eco' themed projects, we have put together project boxes called 'Reduce, Re-use, Recycle', to complement the 'Environment' project boxes we already stock. New 'Climate Change Resource Boxes' are now available for schools to borrow from ELS. The boxes, one aimed at primary schools and one compiled for use in seondary schools, have been created by Cheshire West and Chester Sustainability team. Contents include solar energy car kits, wind turbine kits, powermeters, global warming phot pack and several DVDs.