St Christopher’s is justifiably proud of its purpose-built library which is situated in the very heart of the campus in Saar. The library, built to an individual design is a large, open-plan space on two levels. The provision in the library is outstanding with over 40,000 books plus a constantly growing Arabic library book section.
The Library at the Senior School aims to support all teaching and learning within the school using a broad range of resources. There are over 35,000 resources available in the library to support all areas of the curriculum. We are proud of a superbly appointed Mac Suite of 24 computers and an 84-inch interactive display screen for teaching and presentation purposes.
Reading both for pleasure and academic study is a fundamental strand of the library’s work and our aim is to nurture a whole school reading community. Additionally, reading libraries in the classrooms help to ensure that a wide range of books is readily available to the students at all times.
The library is noted for its colourful and exciting display work, often reflecting classroom initiatives – whether that is celebrating Growth Mindset or recognising the exciting and diverse nationalities that makeup St Christopher’s School.
All students visit the library for a timetabled 30 minutes session each week. Depending on age, they may have a story with one of the librarians or engage in a library skills game or author based activity.
Succeeding through reading is crucial to all students, as the ability to read both, to entertain and to learn, can have considerable influence on our lives and the choices we make. The Senior Library is spacious and well equipped to cope with the increasing demands of students and teachers. Students routinely use the Library for Reading lessons, project work and special assignments. Students are actively encouraged to use the library for recreational purposes and it has become a very popular destination at lunchtimes and before school.
The Post 16 area is more than able to cater for the learning and university needs of our older students, with books in all subject areas for A-Level, BTEC and IB. There are 5 computers available solely for the use of the Post 16 students.
The Library is very much at the hub of Learning at St Chris and it continues to grow and support the reading and learning needs of all age.
