The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

Junior School Resource Centre

As we emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown experience, I thought it worth noting some of the gains that we have had from being forced into an online learning environment, from a Library perspective.

Upon going online, we decided that students would be able to borrow as many library books as they liked. This unexpected situation saw whole shopping bags being taken home, full of quality reads, by students who were determined to keep reading a physical book throughout the lockdown period. A sight that's enough to make a teacher librarian weep with pride.

There was a massive growth in the borrowing of digital and audiobooks through our online reading platform, Sora. As a result, students are still accessing these stories well after a return to school and I doubt we will ever fully return to the way we read before COVID-19.

Then there were the daily picture book readings from all members of the teaching team. Specialist teachers, classroom teachers, support teachers and even the Head of the Junior School recorded readings for the students to listen to at home. This was only made possible by the generous actions of publishers and authors across the country who understood how important picture books are to the wellbeing and education of children who were kept at home by the pandemic.

Although we have returned to a more traditional way of learning, what we learned from the lockdown experience is that reading is the one skill above all others that parents, teachers and students' value and hold scared regardless of its delivery.

Mr Warwick Norman
Junior School Dean of Teaching and Learning