Library Award and Prize

The school library is fully functional for all grades.

For those of you that are paying attention, you will remember my ranting about the library review process that the school underwent at the beginning of August. A group from the district came in and told us that we were doing everything wrong. Well, not long after that, a group from the province came and said we were doing a decent enough job and left us some notes on how we could improve. The visit was part of the School Library Excellence Awards pilot program. I’m not entirely sure how we got involved, but it was nice to receive the visit.

When I arrived at school this past Monday morning, my principal greeted me and told me that she had received a call over the weekend that we were being invited to Durban the next day to receive an award for our overall score in the process. I was a bit surprised. We hadn’t heard anything since they came in mid-August, and it seemed rather odd to get the news via a phone call on the weekend. But then again, this is South Africa – not sure why I am surprised at anything at this point.

Unfortunately, I was told that I was not allowed to attend. When my principal phoned the district to let them know who would be coming with her, the district manager said that he expected a full-time teacher to come, not the volunteer. I said nothing. I just couldn’t. I know my principal. I know she wanted me to go with her. But I also know that she will never argue with the district manager and there was nothing to be done. I surprised even myself with how well I handled it. I shrugged it off, saying it was fine. Since I had missed school nearly the whole week before for a visit to the dentist, it was better not to miss any more days of school anyway. Funny enough, the teacher the principal asked to go instead begged not to, but in the end, she had no choice, and she and the principal were on their way to Durban at 5am the next day.

Our award sits center shelf.

When the principal came to school on Wednesday with the framed certificate (I cannot tell you how many teachers commented on how impressive it was that it was framed) she immediately asked where in the library we could put our important award. I said I was sure there was a shelf somewhere that could be cleared for its display. To be honest, I recognized at once that it was simply a “certificate of participation.” There was nothing about it that said we were any better than any other school. But I didn’t care. The school was so happy and so proud of it. I think that it is so rare that they get any sort of positive feedback from the DOE that something like this made them feel really good and that their school and their work are not invisible.

A plethora of new non-fiction books was the prize!

Much to my surprise, this award had another unforeseen positive consequences. The “prize” that came with it was two huge boxes of brand new books for the library. Really good books, in fact. Non-fiction children’s books; something I scarcely thought I would ever get my hands on. The Natural Science shelf is practically full! Overall, I think that we received about 175 new books, nearly all of which were fantastic. I pulled a few out to give to the grade R and grade 1 teachers because it seemed like they would be better served in their hands. And I found a book about aliens that was sort of creepy and I questioned how well it would go over if kids took it home. So yes, I did a little censoring. Otherwise though, the books were amazing, and I was excited to get them recorded in the accession register and on the shelves. All it took was a piece of paper in a frame to get them!

In the library with our Library Excellence Award.