The Alphington Grammar School Library is a modern learning environment supporting student wellbeing.
Libraries have existed for millennia. Their purpose has always been focused on knowledge acquisition and sharing for the development of society. In the 21st century, school libraries are re-engineering themselves to focus on learning, curriculum and the skills needed for 21st-century learning.
The heart of the school, the library is a valuable and vast collection of resources and knowledge and a nod to the libraries of old, but it is an engaging, collaborative, and inclusive space that can accommodate both individual and group study.
The Multifunction Rooms, equipped with smartboards, have been designed to accommodate class groups and deliver spaces for reading, complete with luxurious cushions. The White Zone is a space complete with writeable whiteboard walls and provides a great place for students to brainstorm and collaborate on their learning. Sensory zones have been created to provide quiet reading areas for students. Spaces throughout the library cater for individual study, booths for group work and study zones. The Primary Zone delivers a space that is a visually engaging and stimulating area, with face-out displays and little nooks that offer younger students a quiet place to read.
Building digital health literacy skills:
The role of inquiry plays an important part in the school and curriculum. It’s important for students to navigate the sea of information, misinformation, fake news, and opinion, and knowing the fundamentals of judging creativity and credibility online. Library programs and online resources are designed to empower their knowledge and confidence to move into higher education and careers. It is about lifelong learning.
Reading for pleasure:
Reading is an essential life skill and libraries help all students develop literacy skills. Reading for pleasure is also associated with mental wellbeing. At Alphington, the library helps facilitate a love of reading by providing comfortable reading spaces and nooks that allow younger students a quiet place to read. Reading classes and planned reading challenges encourage students to read for pleasure, expanding their horizons and building empathy, enabling them to see the world through others’ experiences. Reading for pleasure can provide a valuable escape from the challenges of everyday life.
Safe spaces:
Creating a positive, safe and supportive school environment can help meet students’ academic, emotional and social needs. The flexible and dynamic learning spaces facilitate all learning styles by creating an environment where students feel productive yet at ease. The new space comprises multiple zones designed to deliver targeted and unique learning experiences.
Both the library as a whole, and spaces within it, have been adapted to be comforting sanctuaries as well as a quiet space with cushions and comfortable furniture to make it a place to “get away from it all”.
Libraries are still cherished places of knowledge and learning and, at Alphington Grammar, the school also recognises the importance of this space and the role it plays in students’ wellbeing.
Alphington Grammar School is located on five hectares of beautiful parklands and sports ovals by the banks of the Darebin […]