Warhammer 40,000 Club. Link to an animoto video about the club
A while ago, I was wondering how to boost lunchtime attendance. It wasn’t bad, the library has always been a place for the quiet and reflective students to come, and for those who needed a space to recover from the hurly burly of school life. But it wasn’t exactly busy, and I was beginning to worry about justifying the quietness to the Senior Management, who invariably seemed to walk through just when there was nobody around. Then a shy Year 7 boy asked me a question which completely turned things around for me. It was an innocous question; “Miss, I like playing Warhammer. Do you think there is anyone else in the school who would play with me?” So we made a plan to investigate this together. He and I made a poster, which we put up around strategic places around the school, asking anyone who was interested to give in their names to the Library. We had six pupils by the end of the week. I told the boys that six was enough to start a club, and I typed up some letters to go home. We arranged a day after school between us – Wednesdays – and the boys took the letters home. Word of mouth spread, and more and more came. By the initial session, we had 10 boys starting Warhammer. A worker at the local youth club came along – she had been wanting to set up a Warhammer Club, but had nobody to join in. The club was born! Within two weeks we had 20 members, and have had to close membership. The boys starting coming into the library every lunch and break, to paint, to battle, to exchange ideas and models. Suddenly, my problem was unexpectedly solved! The library is busy, but purposeful. The quiet kids still come in, and the boys are all engaged and happy. Sometimes, listening to a pupil enquiry can take you in an unexpected, but welcome direction!
I have embedded an Animoto video of our boys in the library, playing, painting and enjoying being in the library, which is half the battle won!
Filed under: Libraries
I think this is interesting. Ironically I have the opposite challenge. We are a large open plan LRC in a secondary school. The area is all open so the noise is not conducive to quiet study or reading at break and lunch. We have 30 pcs, which are always all in use when it is not lesson time. I let them play games. Some sites are blocked by many students have found proxy sites so it’s a battle to stop them going on the games. They all seem to like the same thing. I’d like to get more study going on in my LRC…Good that you have found people more willing to ask questions. We do get the pupils to “sign in” at lunchtime so we can keep an eye on numbers over the 45 min breaktime.