Our daily routines and educational practice are rooted in the twin values of Dignity and Respect.
Phone: 01296 651382Email: office@waddesdonschool.com
The library is open to all students throughout the school day for study and for socialising outside of lessons; it provides students with an open, calm space for independent research, quiet reflection, small group activities and immersion in reading for pleasure. All students can borrow books, DVDs and are welcome to come and read the library magazines. We aim to tailor library clubs and activities to interests that the students have and are keen to explore. We currently run a combination of lunchtime and after school clubs (see Extra-Curricular Activities section) including Calm Wednesdays (where pupils are encouraged to engage with some quiet mindful activities), and a very popular Chess Club on Thursday lunchtimes.
REMEMBER if there is a book you would love to read but you cannot find it on the shelves, please speak to Mrs Staiano!
Also, if you have read a book you would like to recommend to your peers that we do not already have, let Mrs Staiano know.
Dont forget, you can follow Waddesdon Community Library on X (formerly Twitter)
Complete Issues
We have access to Complete Issues which is a diverse collection of entry level journals covering a wide range of topics including the environment, bullying and health. Please contact Mrs Staiano lstaiano@waddesdonschool.com for the log-in details.
The London Library
We have been lucky to have our subsidized The London Library subscription extended for a further year, until October 2025. It is an academic virtual and ‘brick’ library with access to hundreads of thousands of resources including JSTOR. Brilliant for Arts and Humanities A Level and EPQ students. Please contact Mrs Staiano
lstaiano@waddesdonschool.com for more information.
Join Your Local Library Service
We encourage students to join Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire Library Service to access further free resources, including free eAudiobooks:
Carnegie Shadowing Group 2024
Pupils in Year 8 were selected to take part in the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme this year. It is a fantastic opportunity to shadow the Carnegie judges in reading, discussing, and reviewing books on the shortlist for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. The group enjoyed seeing if the judges would vote in the same way! The group met once a week on rotation (Thursday after school with Mrs Staiano and Miss Ogden to discuss the shortlisted books/activities, and Wednesday lunch with Miss Ogden to upload reviews). We had a lovely celebration at the last session discovering the shadowing group winner and the judge’s winner. The group voted ‘Crossing the Line’ by Tia Fisher as the winner (who was also the Carnegie Shadowers group winner). ‘The boy lost in the maze’ by Joseph Coelho won the judges medal. Pupils were also presented with certificates for taking part. Please see the summer Waddesdon voice for student write up, photos and book reviews of the group’s top three titles.
Author Visit
Steve Cole (celebrated local author and internationally acclaimed writer), visited Waddesdon on Monday 26th June. As well as an inspirational assembly, he also ran a fantastic session with Year 7 and 8 and signed books at lunchtime. We all loved his energy and enthusiasm, a particular hit with the Year 8 boys!
We celebrated World Book Day this year (2024) on Thursday 7th March with a variety of book-related activities throughout the day.
Mrs Staiano (Librarian) started the day by giving a World Book Day assembly remembering the late, great Benjamin Zephaniah, and a whole assembly game of “Batman or The Bard”.
Book quizzes, craft, free second-hand books and the very popular ‘Guess the book in the jar’ in the Library at lunch and break, and we had a visit by the pre-school in the afternoon to read with some of our Year 7 pupils. A write up of the day can be found in the Spring issue of Waddesdon Voice (p18/19).
Congratulations to Tobias (Yr 7) for winning the ‘Guess the book in the jar’ (he was one of 39 correct guesses, ‘Macbeth’!) and Tilly (Yr 7) was one of 8 successful entries to get 20/20 in the ‘Book Title Emoji quiz’ (75 entries in total!) Well done!
Thank you to everyone who helped make the day such a success, by listening so nicely in assembly, taking part in the WBD activities in the Library, or reading to the pre-school children.
