Sacred Heart College's Junior School Library Sessions

At Sacred Heart College, we believe that fostering a love of reading in our junior students is key to their success, both academically and personally.

Each fortnight during an English class, students in Years 7 and 8 will spend at least half a lesson in the Catherine McAuley Library. These classes are a chance to step away from the regular classroom routine and immerse themselves in our wonderful (and ever-growing) collection. As your friendly teacher-librarians, we're on hand to make sure every student finds something that truly sparks their interest.

What Happens in a Reading Session?

We greet classes at the start of the period and meet them in the reading area of the library. One of the library team will chat for a few minutes about any new acquisitions or books that we think might be of interest to students in the class. Students then have 5-10 minutes to be sitting down and reading independently. During this time, we work with individuals to help them find a book of interest. They'll often share their recommendations with their peers too, which we love to see. If they're after something we don't have, we order it then and there; we love getting their suggestions! After some independent reading time, we facilitate borrowing and returns.

Why is Library Time and Reading So Important?

Time in the library provides students the opportunity to find books to sink into. There are nearly endless benefits of regular reading for pleasure, but we've collected a few below:

• Improves language and communication skills. Reading skills grow significantly between the ages of 12 and 14 (Ricketts et al., 2020, p.381). Especially important for well-being, reading has been shown to enhance emotional vocabulary, which is linked to emotional competence, emotion regulation, and social skills (Dylman et al., 2020, p.681).

• Social cognitive development. Reading narratives helps adolescents simulate social experiences, improving their understanding of mental states, emotions, and interpersonal relationships (Lenhart et al., 2022, p.21-22). It also helps shy students learn "how to conduct themselves in the world" (Fodale & Bates, 2011, p.104).

• Safe explorations of social scenarios. Literature allows adolescents to experience complex social situations (e.g., misunderstandings, conflicts) in a risk-free environment, aiding emotional regulation and social learning (Lenhart et al., 2022, p.4). We think this is especially important as teenagers are growing up into an increasingly complex world (and also engage in risk-taking).

• Academic benefits. Students who engaged in pleasure reading scored higher in all measured subjects compared to non-readers (Whitten et al., 2019, p.48).

We are incredibly proud of our junior school reading program at Sacred Heart College. It's a testament to our commitment to nurturing well-rounded individuals who succeed academically and also develop a deep appreciation for the power of stories.