West Sussex Schools Library Service provides cost effective access to:

"high quality resources and expertise to support literacy, learning and reader development" 

This includes:  

• A long-term loan and exchange service 
• Project loans
• Professional help and advice
• Support with Accelerated Reader

The Schools Library Service team provides professional support and advice to over 150 Primary Schools across West Sussex through a range of virtual and in person activities. This includes FREE access to 'Primary Book Chat’ and CPD sessions where you can:

• share the books that work well for you.
• hear about new titles added to the SLS catalogue.
• network and share good practice with others.
• discover quality texts to use in your classroom.

“Great information as ever - thank you, I've found all sorts of ideas popping into my head as I listened!”

“I enjoyed the session, viewing the books and listening to descriptions about text and illustrations. Gave some great ideas for new books.” 

Last year, 2,583 children and 453 Education Professionals visited the SLS mobile library and borrowed an amazing 15,381 books.  

“Thanks very much for the wonderful service and support the School Library Service gives to our school. We love the school Mobile visits, giving the chance to browse and for the children to be involved in selecting books for our school library 😊”

“Being able to choose is a powerful motivator. Pupils are much more likely to enjoy reading if they have chosen the book because it appeals to them rather than because they have been told to read it.” DfE Reading Framework 2023 p95.

42 primary schools took part in the 10th Anniversary Award and 3,380 children attended the virtual author events. Feedback from schools and children who attended the events includes:

“These were fantastic - the drawing along with the author/illustrators were a huge highlight for many of the children and inspired independent artwork at home.”

“Reading the picture books has made me want to read more picture books and not just chapter books”

“The children all engaged really well with the stories and connected them to other parts of their learning. We joined together with other classes so it was great for PSED.”

“A great range of texts which are all very engaging and interesting for the children. Lots of non-fiction texts which are sometimes hard to find elsewhere. We love our project loan books, thank you! “

Over 3,000 Project Loan boxes were borrowed during 2023/24 

“The children found it very enjoyable and stimulating. It was also great to have the opportunity for the teachers and staff to find out more about new children's authors and for the school to build on our collection of books by all the authors.”

During June 2024, 19 primary schools took part in the SLS Celebration of Reading events and 1,710 children enjoyed the virtual author talks.   

The Schools Library Service also helps schools reduce their carbon footprint! Each Schools Library Service book is borrowed and read by many children, helping to cut carbon emissions and protect our environment for the future.

The carbon footprint of a typical paperback is about the same as watching 6 hours of TV

Making new books has an environmental footprint which includes cutting down trees, chemicals and water used in manufacturing and the transportation of raw materials/products. Every new book generates carbon emissions that are contributing to climate change so the more times each book is read, the more worthwhile that use of resources becomes.

Don't forget to subscribe to the SLS newsletter to receive regular news and updates.

You and your team can visit the SLS HQ to select books, get new ideas or lesson plan. Subscribing schools are also welcome for INSET days, group visits and team training days.

Contact us or visit the SLS Website to find out how your school can benefit from our annual subscription.

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give your pupils the library they deserve.