Year 7 Library ‘Click and Collect’ service at Erasmus Darwin Academy
Dear Parent / Carer,
Due to school closure, we have decided to set up a library ‘click and collect’ service for Year 7 students. Not only is reading for pleasure the most important activity your child can do to improve their achievement in school, but it also improves their wellbeing. This is a challenging time for us all and reading is an enjoyable activity that can be done at home and can provide escapism. We are happy to be able to offer this service, especially if your child does not have access to many books at home.
Firstly, we are asking that students reserve three books at a time. This will ensure that they have enough to read but will also limit the amount of collections you will need to do. Students will use their ‘Libresoft’ login to reserve their three books from our catalogue (see below for a guide on how to do this). Students should have their ‘Libresoft’ login stuck in their planner. If your child is struggling to reserve their books through ‘Libresoft’ then they can email Mrs Dickinson (our school librarian) on h.dickinson@eda.staffs.sch.uk . Similarly, if they are unsure about which books they would like, they can email Mrs Dickinson with the genres/authors they usually enjoy reading and then Mrs Dickinson can select books that are appropriate for the student.
Each week, students have from Thursday to Tuesday to reserve their books for a collection on the Wednesday. Collections will be from outside the Sports Centre between 3.00 pm and 4.00 pm. Our first collection will begin on Wednesday 3rd February and continue until further notice. We encourage students or you, as parents and carers, to use this trip, if possible, as a part of your daily exercise. We will also have a box where books can be returned and quarantined. In order to keep our school library stocked, if students fail to return a book back to the library after two reminders (when they return to school) or if they return the book and it is damaged, they will be charged £6 to replace the book as per normal school policy.
We are taking the highest precautions to ensure that our ‘click and collect’ service is safe. As from the beginning of September, all books are quarantined for 72 hours before returning to the shelf. Library books are only handled by Mrs Dickinson who sanitises before and after touching each book. Books will also be placed in a plastic wallet with the student’s name on ready for collection. Please can we ask that whoever is collecting the books to wear a face mask and maintain social distancing at all times. If this service is popular and we fear that there will be too many people coming to collect, we may give you a collection time slot or delay your collection until the following week. You will be notified if this is the case.
Finally, please find on this page information on how to access ‘Libresoft’ and Accelerated Reader from home, ‘A Guide to Reading at Erasmus Darwin Academy’, recommended reading lists and our ‘EDA Lockdown Reading Challenge’. We encourage all students to take part in this challenge. They have the chance of winning a £10 Amazon voucher and the opportunity to read texts they may not have considered before. I have created this challenge with the consideration that some students may not have hard copies of books at home. Therefore, students do not need to use the ‘click and collect’ service to be able to take part in the challenge.
Please follow our library twitter page @EDALibrary for regular updates. If you have any queries or questions related to any of this information, please do not hesitate to get in touch at e.tomlinson@eda.staffs.sch.uk.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Yours faithfully,
Miss E Tomlinson
(Lead Teacher of English – Development Stage & Literacy and Oracy Co-ordinator)