The Inspection report is less detailed in dealing with individual areas of the College than in previous inspections. However, the Libraries do receive a number of mentions...
2. The quality of education
The educational experience provided
2.1 The school offers a broad and balanced curriculum and fulfills its aims to provide academic challenge and a wide variety of co-curricular activities. It is committed to providing a culture in which pupils engage in independent learning, as is shown, for example, by the additions of Critical Thinking and Campbridge Pre-U Global Perspectives and extended essay to the Sixth Form curriculum, and the varied and excellent resources of the Wodehouse Library.
2.3 ...Timetabled PSHE in Years 7 - 11, in which the school library plays a vital role...seek to ensure that the boys are knowledgable about issues which may affect their well-being, and to enable them to make informed choices.
2.21...The Library is well-endowed, is situated at the heart of the school, and provides richness and depth to the school community.
The Junior School Library also receives acknowledgement in the the Junior School Inspection document...
2. The quality of education
The educational experience provided
2.14 Boys read fluently. Considerable attention is given to ensuring that boys read a wide genre of fiction. The full-time librarian has an extensive knowledge of current fiction, and works in close collaboration with teachers to encourage boys to read as widely as they can. When boys embark on a new topic for study, such as World War Two, the Librarian presents the boys with a range of fiction that is in line with their new study.
2.15 The Library is used effectively by the boys when they undertake independent projects of their own.
Read the REPORT SUMMARY
What the School Does Well
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• Other areas of excellence include: the facilities and arrangements for boarding; the quality of music performance; the libraries; the provision for careers guidance; and the extensive opportunities offered within the activities programme.Quality of Pupils' Learning, Attitudes and Behaviour
4.4 Most pupils at the College are competent learners and are motivated to learn. In the Junior School, pupils are particularly well motivated and positive in their approach to learning, and they respond well. They listen carefully to each other and have good concentration. Good examples of independent learning were seen at all levels in the College. The quality and the effective use of the three libraries make an important contribution here. In a number of lessons, a real buzz of academic enquiry and intellectual debate was apparent. Elsewhere, particularly in the Lower and Middle Schools, classes tend to be more passive, although usually receptive.
Libraries
5.34 The College is very well served by its libraries and by the librarians, who provide enthusiastic, professional and developing support for the curriculum at all levels of the College.
5.35 The Junior School library is attractively furnished, well funded and contains over 6500 books. These include a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, all clearly labelled. All subjects are well catered for and the replacement programme is appropriate. The open, spacious area is carefully designed to encourage its use for class-based activities as well as for individual research backed by a carefully thought-out research programme.
5.36 The Lower School library, recently established, has over 5000 books, tapes and other items, all well suited to the needs of Years 7 and 8. The Wodehouse library, for Year 9 and above, lies at the centre of the College. It contains over 20,000 books, including a range of textbooks; replacement rates are quite low. New books are bought on the recommendation of staff and pupils. Pupils have access to plentiful stocks of CDs, videotapes and audiocassettes. The stock is well organised, and easy to find and borrow; security tags inhibit loss. All libraries are equipped with networked computers, but the Lower School library needs more.
5.37 All three libraries have multiple uses, quite intentionally. Whole classes use them for periods of library-based work; pupils in Years 12 and 13 come for study periods; books are borrowed regularly by pupils and by departments to support lessons. Training in information skills is provided at several levels in the College and is part of the general studies course in Year 12. At break and lunchtime, there is fierce competition for the computers, whilst other pupils come to finish a piece of work or research, to borrow a book, to read or to play chess. On normal days the libraries are busy; on wet days they are packed.
5.38 The libraries are very well managed and, with three professional librarians, each library has a qualified person in charge. All libraries are catalogued on the intranet, together with the stocks of all but two of the significant departmental libraries. These two are in hand, as is the establishment of a system of departmental library representatives which was recommended in the last report.
5.39 Above the Wodehouse library is the fascinating and distinguished archive, which is particularly rich in early editions of P.G.Wodehouse and various memorabilia, and with early theatrical works and papers associated with the College's founder, Edward Alleyn. In addition, the Masters' library occupies a fine room in the Barry building and is a closed collection, mainly of books in the humanities up to the 1960s.