Library and Literacy

Our students are very lucky to have such a well stocked and vibrant library at the Academy which is run by staff who are passionate about books and reading. This encourages students to develop an ethos of reading for enjoyment in our Academywith our varied and interesting range of books for students to take out on loan.

While most of our books are new, we are constantly augmenting our stock with good quality donations.  We would happily welcome any books that are no longer needed that may be gifted to the library – please pass any to Mrs Probets, our Academy librarian.

We also have a Library twitter link - @SAA_Library - for news and updates.

We don’t charge for overdue books but we do ask for damaged or lost books to be reimbursed or replaced.

Library facts: Our Library is open from 8am - 4pm each day including break and lunchtimes. This isn't just to take out and return books - there are computers to use and space to work on homework or just to browse through books.

We have our own email address as well if you have any questions: library@saa.woodard.co.uk

EXCITING NEWS IN November: We've just had a letter from an author...

To everyone at St Augustine Academy,  

 I hope you’re having an excellent term. When I was at high school, my favourite place was the school library. To be honest, I often used the library as a place to escape when real-life got boring or lonely and had many brilliant adventures in Narnia or Middle-earth when I really should have been studying!

When I was your age there weren’t nearly as many books for young people to choose from, but here’s my Top 4, in no particular order.

• Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O’Brien
• The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
• The Borrowers by Mary Norton
• Watership Down by Richard Adams

These books might seem old-fashioned nowadays, but you might want to give one or two of them a go. Have a look for them in the library and if you find one, have a read and let me know what you think.

What’s your favourite book?  If you haven’t found one yet, keep looking. Somewhere, in a bookshop or on a library shelf, is a story you’ll love forever.                                                  

I  have been a published author since April 2015, when I won the Kelpies Prize for my debut novel, The Mixed-Up Summer of Lily McLean, although I actually decided when I was about eight years old that I wanted to be a children’s author. It took a very long time for me to feel brave enough to send my work to publishers. If you are interested in becoming an author, don’t be like me. Enter competitions and get your writing in front of an audience. Be confident and don’t give up. Keep practising and improving and you will get there.

It is, by the way, great fun being an author. I love visiting schools, libraries and festivals  and talking to young people about reading and writing. I really enjoy signing books in bookshops. The writing is sometimes the difficult bit, the part where I have to sit down at my desk and get on with it, no excuses allowed.  Being a published author doesn’t happen without hard work, but if you really, really want something, you have to do your absolute best to make it happen!

I’ve had eight novels published now, including The Titanic Detective Agency and Guardians of the Wild Unicorns, which was nominated for the Carnegie Medal! My latest novel, Euro Spies, came out in April. It’s a spy caper set in lots of European cities and is packed with clues to solve and codes to crack. At the moment, I am editing a new novel, Ice Cream Boy, set in Glasgow and Tuscany and featuring lots of ice cream. I’m looking forward to seeing it in print in May 2024.

                                   Keep reading!

                                                Best wishes,

                                                     Lindsay Littleson