with this initiative. The new Christ’s College Library on Schoolbox enabled us to remove the old catalogue computer in the library, and after a few tutorials, the boys got into the habit of searching for books on their own laptops through the Schoolbox page. This also allowed them to search and reserve books online. A designated area for Research Skills, focusing on source selection, plagiarism and referencing was also created. Class tutorials were offered in this area of research and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching these sessions to our Years 11–13 boys. It was great to create our own CC Style Guide aligning with the new APA 7th Edition. This is the referencing style that all boys at Christ’s College are expected to use in any research or inquiry-based learning. Lockdown saw this online space significantly used by boys and staff and it was also awesome to see our College community engage with the 6 Word Review Lockdown Challenge. While the majority of our library book collection remained the same, there were some additions and minor changes made to the cataloguing of our Non-Fiction and Fiction collections. In our Fiction section, on the suggestion from the boys, Dystopian Fiction was created and many of the titles that had previously been in Sci Fi were moved to the newly created section. This is an exciting genre and one that our boys really engage with. It is also a genre taught throughout the English Department, so it was fantastic to create this collection to align with the teaching in this curriculum area. We also established a Young Adult section, previously Realism. Boys felt Young Adult was a genre title more accessible to all age groups. In our Non-Fiction section, the highlight of the year was the creation of our permanent Aotearoa – New Zealand Collection. This is a stunning collection of historical and contemporary texts which has been well received by both boys and staff. To reflect our school strategic themes for 2021-2025, new sections were developed under Connection, Motivation, Philanthropy and
Sustainability. These are 5-yearly collections and will be integrated into the Non Fiction collection as our school’s strategic themes change. With Wellbeing being a key focus of mine, our Wellbeing section was further developed this year to reflect this changing space. Wellbeing for Students and Wellbeing for Staff were created as well as focused areas on Boyhood and Parenting and Educating Boys. We are hopeful that in 2022 some of these texts may become available for parents to issue and read. Within our Biography – Autobiography section, Leaders and Young People were established and there was also some fine tuning within Philosophy, Psychology, Social Issues and Business Studies. These minor revisions were to reflect the changing nature of language and meaning. Character and Leadership have also been a key focus and are now represented in their own sections within the Non Fiction collection. There is also a newly created Gender Diversity Collection and this is made up of both Fiction and Non Fiction texts. It was really important to create a collection that had diversity of voice and we felt this was best met through personal voices as well as character narratives. There has been a big push this year on purchasing books suggested by boys and I have been really grateful to the boys who have provided this feedback. A school library should always have a strong student voice and this has been a very effective way of enabling this. We have also worked with curriculum departments, in particular Mathematics and Technology, to better align the books we have in the library with key aspects of their curriculum programmes. At the end of this year we farewelled both Lisa Trundley-Banks and Lyn Fetirika to retirement. There is no doubt that the boys and staff have been incredibly blessed by their dedication to our library and absolute love of reading and books throughout the years. For me personally, it has been such a privilege leading the library in 2021 and I have thoroughly enjoyed being
part of this special space. 2022 sees me returning to the classroom and a dedicated librarian and library assistant appointed to lead the library into its next era. It seems fitting to end with a 6 Word Review entry for Edmund De Waal’s book, The Hare with Amber Eyes , which encapsulates how 2021 has been for us in the library: extraordinary little pieces make extraordinary lives. Caroline Black Teacher–Librarian MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS Staffing Matters In Term 3, last year we welcomed back Tony O’Connor after a successful two years coaching the NZ men’s eight rowing team, which won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. At the end of 2021, we farewelled Tamara Lerios, our Assistant Head of Department, who left to take up the position of Head of the Mathematics faculty at St Margaret’s College. Mathematics Competitions The study of Mathematics and Statistics satisfies a wide range of interests and abilities. Participation in Mathematics competitions involves mathematical problem solving in unfamiliar contexts, and rewards students for pattern recognition and confidence in a range of problem solving skills. The aim of the competitions is to stimulate and encourage students to enjoy the challenge of maths and become creative problem solvers. Students eagerly anticipated the many mathematics competitions which would see them compete locally, nationally and internationally. However, due to Covid-19, many competitions were cancelled at the last minute. Australian Mathematics Competition The Australian Mathematics Competition is one of the largest Mathematics competitions in the world, with more than 600,000 students competing each year. It is an annual fixture involving students
48
Christ’s College Canterbury
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software