School Bookshop Noticeboard

An idea from Lynn Simpson of The Cardinal’s Bookshop, Middleton, Manchester.

Lucky Bookstamp Competition

We mark some of our book savings stamps with a star. The child who buys the Lucky Bookstamp wins a book, or an item of stationery (we sell pens, pencils, folders etc. as well as books) or an additional book stamp, value 10p or 20p.

A good incentive to keep saving.

The Cardinal’s Bookshop is in a secondary school. It was set up in September 1980 and with enthusiastic promotion in the shape of bright ideas like the one we pass on to you here, it is a thriving and lively feature of school life.

Ideas for ’82

This year is A A Milne’s centenary. He was born on 18 January 1882. Lots of possibilities for activities from a Bear Celebration to a Parents Evening to show the excellent film Mr Shepard and Mr Milne, available to hire from Weston Woods and also of interest to top juniors, middle and secondary schools.

A list of the Best British authors to be promoted this year by booksellers includes Leon Garfield and Rosemary Sutcliff.

Why not latch on to this or have your own Best Author promotion?

Too small to have a school bookshop?

Nigel Spencer, Deputy Head of Ramsey County Primary School in Essex and committed bookshop promoter, pours scorn on the idea that bookshops are not viable in small schools.

‘Our bookshop serves a school of one hundred pupils and in 21/2 years we have sold over £1,100 worth of books.’ He also comments on problems of book supply raised in Opinion, BfK No.10. ‘The service we’ve had from Books for Students has been excellent – orders arriving within days and outstanding back-up services. Incidentally, congratulations on Books for Keeps; it’s an exceedingly interesting magazine. Parents and staff both like the format and we’ve found the Authorgraphs very informative.’

Nigel ‘s was the first bookshop of its kind in the Harwich area. He has run courses for teachers on running bookshops in Chelmsford and Clacton, and we hear there is another planned for Colchester.

Fighting the Cuts

A marvellous example of cooperation between a voluntary organisation (Edinburgh Children’s Book Group) and a school (Lasswade High School Centre, Bonnyrigg) was the three-day Lasswade Book Fair where £1,800 worth of books was sold and a good time was had by all. Many events took place after school and on the final day, a Saturday, the Fair was open to the whole community.

The Cuts mean that this year school premises will not be available after school hours which everyone regrets. But Lasswade is determined to keep its Book Fair and is making it possible for Edinburgh Children’s Book Group to organise a week long Fair during school hours.

I’m a Sucker for Books

This inspired bit of publicity was the winning entry in the competition to find a logo for the first ever Book Fair at Wingfield Primary School in London. It was designed by a third year Junior boy, Simon Lyons, and became a familiar sight all over the school from January when preparations for the big event really began to roll. The school managed to make the Book Fair a real part of school life for six months, sustaining the children’s enthusiasm and gradually building up to a climax. (For how it was done see the next issue of BfK.) And when it was all over what did they do? They opened a school bookshop of course.

Galactic Winners

A huge entry for our Galactic Warlord storytelling competition sponsored by Piccolo, produced a fine crop of winners from the following schools: St Thomas More C.H., Crewe; Westwood High, Leek; Alec Stubbs High, Braintree; Harmondsworth School, Middx; Comiston Primary, Edinburgh; The Green School for Girls, Isleworth; Monkhouse C.P., Spalding; Peckover School, Wisbech; Bushey Middle School, London; Westwood St Thomas, Sailsbury; Tile Hill Wood, Coventry; Neale-Wade School, March; Llwynn Junior, Abergavenny; Brighton High, Basingstoke; Eye C of E C.P., Peterborough; Orwell Primary, Edinburgh; Malory School, Bromley; Picardy Secondary, Belvedere, Kent.