Summer Reading Challenge

SUMMER READING CHALLENGE

This year's Summer Reading Challenge - developed by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with public libraries, is about nature and the outdoors.

This week we welcomed into school our local Islington librarian, Raksha Agheda, to talk to our children about the SUMMER READING CHALLENGE and how to join in.

Raksha was helped with her presentation by two of our Junior librarians, Perez and Sorayah (Violet Class). She talked to the children about why and how to join in with the challenge.

Teachers will be sharing the fun video promoting the challenge with their classes before the end of term.

To launch this year’s Summer Reading Challenge Islington libraries will be holding a Family Fun Day on 5^th July with free fun activities.

There are two ways you can take part:

You can join the Challenge at your local library. A librarian will give you a special sticker booklet and help you choose from books, ebooks, or audiobooks. You’ll collect stickers and other rewards along the way.

Alternatively, take part in the Challenge online by going to Summer Reading Challenge. Set a reading goal and log your books on your profile. Reach your goal and unlock digital badges and a certificate.

Please note, the in-person and online Challenges are separate.

It's a super easy way to motivate children aged 4-11 to have fun reading during the holidays. Children collect rewards for reading whatever they like and there'll be lots of free activities to enjoy along the way.

Take part for free either at the library or online at summerreadingchallenge.org.uk 

Summer Reading Challenge

 

What is the Summer Reading Challenge?

The Summer Reading Challenge, delivered in partnership with public libraries across the UK, is back for 2025! The Challenge invites children to embark on an exciting reading journey, either through their local library or online. This year’s theme, Story Garden, encourages young readers to explore nature and the great outdoors through reading.

In the Library

Visit your local library and sign up. Your child will set a reading goal, choose anything they like to read, and collect special stickers and rewards for their reading. Libraries offer lots of free activities and events throughout the summer.

Islington Libraries Family Fun Day on Saturday 5th July

Online 

Sign up on the official Challenge website to take part online. Children can set a reading goal and get tips for accessing books for free at home. As they read books, they’ll unlock digital rewards, including a printable certificate.  

Children set a reading goal and collect rewards for reading anything they enjoy. Children can sign up at their local library or online, and it’s FREE to take part.

JOIN IN FROM 5th JULY TO KEEP CHILDREN READING OVER THE HOLIDAYS!

Baroness Floella Benjamin - Virtual Event

 

Author Virtual Event

Baroness Floella Benjamin

Wednesday 11^th June

Children in Year 1, Year 2, Year 4 and Year 5 had an exciting morning listening to 

Baroness Floella Benjamin when they joined in with the ‘live-streamed’ event.

This event not only celebrates the 30^th anniversary of her ever-popular memoir ‘Coming to England’ but Windrush Day on 22^nd June. This year also sees the release of a brand new board book, illustrated by Joelle Avelino, which introduces the story to the youngest children.

There was an introductory video from the Migration Museum showing how relevant the themes of book are still today.

The Baroness was then introduced and appeared on the classroom screens smiling and resonating joy. She explained that she was inspired to write her story as she felt it important that we all have an opportunity to see ourselves reflected in the books we read.

The Baroness said that ‘Coming to England’, recounts her experience at the age of ten of setting sail from the Caribbean to a new life in London with her family. Alone on a huge ship for two weeks, then tumbled into a cold and unfriendly London, coming to England wasn’t at all what she had expected...Her mother taught her that all you need is love and that “education is your passport to life". Using these principles she worked hard and her achievements led her to winning honours and even meeting the Queen.

The Baroness' final message was to keep smiling and it will give you strength. Throughout her talk she was filled with optimism and joy and her experiences of moving home and making friends resonated with the children.

The Baroness is a truly inspirational speaker.

Thank you to Pickled Pepper Books, our local bookshop, for inviting us to this event and to the publishers, Macmillan, for organising.

Bookykid Workshop

 BOOKYKID Workshop

Wednesday 21st May

Library

12:20 -12:50

Today we had our first BOOKYKID Workshop. 

The children were very excited to meet BOOKYKID!

Junior librarians, Cillian and Sadie, demonstrated to a group of Year 2 children how BOOKYKID, our library robot assistant, works.

Sadie and Cillian showed the children how BOOKYKID helps children to choose books by asking them a series of questions and then selecting answers using a computer.

First -  Choose your Year Group

Second -  Pick a Category  

FANTASY - Press F

DRAGONS and DINOS - Press D

COMIC - Press C

ADVENTURE - Press A

MAGIC - Press M

SCARY - Press G

LANGUAGE - Press X

SCIENCE - Press S

TOPIC - Press T

RELIGION - Press  R

LUCKY DIP - Press L

Listen carefully and BOOKYKID will suggest some books to help you find the perfect one.

Enjoy Reading!

ROBOT WORKSHOPS

 BOOKYKID WORKSHOPS

Our Library Robot Assistant

Wednesday Lunchtimes

in the Library at

12:20 - 12:50

Our junior librarians, Sadie and Cillian, will be running lunchtime workshops to demonstrate how to use our library robot assistant - BOOKYKID.

Come along and find out how BOOKYKID can help you choose your next book.

Half Term Activities

 HALF TERM CRAFT EVENT

at 

Archway Library

YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY – FREE BOOKS

Have you joined your local library? 

Did you know that anyone who lives, works or studies in the borough can join Islington Libraries?

Our nearest library is at Archway, near the underground station. A perfect place to go to after school and during the holidays to share a story!

Membership is FREE giving you access to amazing FREE books, eBooks eAudiobooks and many other resources. 

To find your local Islington libraries click here

Join today and help St Joseph’s children be happy, confident readers.

NEW BOOKS

 NEW BOOKS

Another bus load of books have arrived at the library.

These books were bought with the funds we raised at the 

BOOK FAIR.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Scholastic Book Fairs and helped us raise money to spend on books for our library.

Change for Change - Charity Day

CHANGE for CHANGE

On Tuesday 29^th April we held our ‘Change for Change Day’!!!

Pupil leadership groups ran stalls to raise money for their chosen charity – FAIRTRADE.

Our junior librarians ran a book stall from donations of second-hand books.

Junior librarians, Ronli, Liza, Sadie and Cillian from Year 6 and Sebastian from Year 5 led the book stall.

It was a fabulous day and the beautiful weather meant that all the stalls could be set up outside in our KS1 playground,

In the afternoon all classes had a chance to visit the stalls and spend their ‘change’ on books,

toys, potted plants and cakes. There was also a game stand offering a chance to participate in a penalty

shoot-out.

It was wonderful of see the enthusiasm, creativity and generosity of our school community. 

It was a great success in raising funds for FAIRTRADE.

Thank you to our pupil leadership groups, to our junior librarians in particular and to everyone for

supporting ‘CHANGE for CHANGE’. 

Library Awards

 LIBRARY AWARDS

Congratulations 

Cillian and Sadie (Amethyst Class) received an award for showing excellent initiative programming the library robot - 'Bookykid'.

They were both given a National Book Token to spend on a book of their choice and given the Reading Trophy to keep in their classroom.

📕📗📘📙🏆

Happy Easter

 EASTER HOLIDAYS!

Please RETURN all school library books before the Easter holidays.

YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY – FREE BOOKS

Have you joined your local library? 

Did you know that anyone who lives, works or studies in the borough can join Islington Libraries?

Our nearest library is at Archway, near the underground station. A perfect place to go to after school to share a story!

Membership is FREE giving you access to amazing FREE books, eBooks eAudiobooks and many other resources. 

To find your local Islington libraries click here

Join today and help St Joseph’s children be happy, confident readers.

Happy EASTER!

Book Fair

BOOK FAIR

 

and we have received our first delivery of new books.

THANK YOU!

World Book Day

 

St Joseph’s Primary School Celebrates World Book Day with Creative Dress-Up

In a celebration of literacy and creativity, St Joseph’s Primary School marked World Book Day with children invited to come to school dressed as a ‘word’; bringing language to life in a vibrant and imaginative way.

The school was alive with children transformed into colourful walking embodiments of words, such as triumphant, iridescent, fatigued, spotty and storm, to name but a few. From "sparkling" princesses to "enchanting" wizards, the costumes were as diverse as the words they represented. All this sparked curiosity, conversation and excitement throughout the school.

Children from Emerald Class dressed up in costumes that represent the words: 'retro', 'spotty', 'soldier', 'wizard', 'dazzle' and 'storm'. 

In the morning, a ‘reading swap’ was organised so that children in KS2 joined our children in KS1, Nursery and Reception to share a beautiful moment reading with them.

St Joseph’s also hosted a Scholastic Book Fair giving the children an opportunity to use their World Book Day £1 book token to either get a £1 off a book of their choice or swap it for one of the especially published World Book Day books.

Junior Librarians celebrating World Book Day at the Book Fair

As the day ended, children gathered for a special assembly where they joined in with a quiz and shared their creative alternative book covers. Prizes of book vouchers for the book fair were awarded to the winners of the best book covers. It was a fitting conclusion to a day filled with creativity, laughter, and a shared love of books.

Cillian - Amethyst Class - with winning book cover design.

Rionagh - Sapphire Class - with winning book cover design.

The children all agreed that they had the most magical, fun day sharing their favourite books.

Executive Headteacher, Miss Clare McFlynn, expressed her delight at the creativity displayed by the children, stating, "World Book Day is a wonderful opportunity for our children to celebrate the joy of reading and language.”.

Book Fair

 Our

BOOK FAIR

has now been collected.

You have helped us get FREE books for our School Library.

Thank you to everyone!

A Robot in the Library

BookyKid

Junior Librarian, Cillian with our library robot

Our Junior Librarians, Sadie and Cillian from Amethyst Class have been hard at work with our digital lead, Mrs Suliga, preparing a robot to enhance our library experience.

BOOKYKID

They have been busy coding the robot to be able to assist children with recommending books to read.

Junior Librarians, Sadie and Cillian, coding library robot Junior Librarians, Sadie and Cillian, coding library robot

Sadie and Cillian launched our library robot, BOOKYKID, this week in the library to classes.

They demonstrated how BOOKYKID will be able to suggest books according to Year group and genres.

 

Cillian and Sadie unveiling BookyKid in the library

 

                                                                                Just ask

"WHAT TO READ NEXT?"

and you will get some brilliant suggestions from BOOKYKID.

Cillian and Sadie as part of their junior librarian responsibilities will be running lunchtime workshops to demonstrate to children how our library robot works. 

We are so excited to welcome our very special library assistant!

 

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚💻

 

  

Book Fair

The

BOOK FAIR 

has arrived!

Our celebrations for WORLD BOOK DAY have begun.

Classes have been visiting the Book Fair during the school day and the children have been 

enjoying looking at the books and making Wish Lists that they can share at home.

Every child will receive a World Book Day £1 Book Token that can be used at the book fair or swapped for one of the World Book Day books either at our fair or at your local bookseller. To find out more about World Book Day log-on to https://worldbookday.com

If you wish to purchase any books from the Wish List you can pay for their chosen books using the online payment system at www.bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/pay. Please make sure the Wish List is returned to school so that the books can be given to your child.

Children will be able to bring money to purchase books on the day that they are scheduled to come to the Fair. Please provide the money in an envelope clearly marked with their name and class and give it to your child, teacher or the school office. 

Payments can be made at the fair using contactless and cash.

You can purchase gift vouchers or make payments online. Go to www.bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/gift-vouchers to buy vouchers. Please let the school know what books have been purchased online so that we can give them to your child.

Remember when you buy one book we get one FREE for the library!

😄😄😄😄😄