Devon School Library Service Newsletter June 2025

Devon County Council sent this bulletin at 03-06-2025 10:19 AM BST

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June 2025

School Library Service

Centre news for June

June is set to be a busy month with many events and festivals such as Pride Month, Empathy Day and GRT History Month and SLS have designed booklists to support these (more information further down the newsletter).

SLS Library Advisers will be hosting our own events for the annual Carnegie Awards, as well as our termly library network meetings and we look forward to seeing many of you there.

We will also be at the SEN conference on 12 June at Sandy Park, we'll have lots of great books to support SEN in your schools, so please come along and have a look.

Last week we attended the Music conference at Buckfast and had lots of interest in our music booklist. For anyone that missed out please click here to download the list.

In September we will be launching our new Class Sets! Next month's newsletter will provide more information and details on how to order in time for September (replacing the group readers lists).

Email us

Library network meetings - Summer term

Free networking and information sharing opportunity at Willand.

This term our primary and secondary meetings will be taking place at Willand.

The secondary library network meeting will be on Tuesday 24 June from 1.30 to 3.30
The primary library network meeting will be on Thursday 26 June from 1.30 to 3.30

We will be looking at recent research and discussing ideas that reading leads and librarians can use to inspire pupils to choose reading this summer.

Please let us know if you can attend by emailing us at schoollibraryservice@devon.gov.uk. A great opportunity to visit the centre and browse our book stock.

Hot Reads Summer 2025

With around 10,000 new children’s books published every year, we read and review as many new titles as possible to bring you a selection of the very best for each key stage, fiction and non-fiction.

Subscribing schools can choose these as part of your exchange and non-subscribing schools can purchase at 25% discount off rrp.

Hot reads booklists

GRT History Month

Through celebration, education and raising awareness, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (GRTHM) helps us understand these communities and their contributions to society.

To celebrate this we have prepared an author focus on Richard O'Neill, storyteller, author and play-write, along with a useful list of books covering this subject.

Visit the EDEAS team's webpage for lots more information on events, activities and resources supporting GRTHM.

Author focus and GRT booklist

Empathy Day Festival

Empathy Day 2025 will be celebrated on 12 June, continuing its mission to foster a more caring and emotionally intelligent world. Organized by EmpathyLab, this day aims to inspire children to understand and share the feelings of others through storytelling, reading, and interactive activities. By promoting kindness and understanding, Empathy Day helps build stronger, more compassionate communities.

This year's celebration includes a ten-day festival featuring empathy challenges, nationwide assemblies, and workshops led by notable authors and illustrators. For more information please see the EmpathyLab webpage.

EmpathyLab booklists

Pride Month - June 2025

June is Pride Month - a month dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ communities all around the world.

We have selected a range of fiction and non-fiction titles to help young people understand the LGBTQ+ history and community.

LGBTQ+ booklists

The Children's Bookshow in Exeter

The Children's Bookshow is being held on 11 November at the Northcott Theatre and showcases the best children's books with authors and illustrators live on stage. This year's performance will be with Science teacher and author Alom Shaha and the illustrator Sarthak Sinha. A magical mix of art, science and story-telling.

Visit their webpage to find out more The Children's Bookshow | Alom Shaha and Sarthak Sinha performance.

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