The Mallinson Library
opened in 2012. It boasts both ultra-modern facilities and an
old-fashioned reverence for learning. The library, which is staffed by
two full-time librarians, is a place for serious study: for reading, research
and learning. Its goals are to support students’ learning, to encourage wider
reading and to foster scholarship which we encourage students to think of as an
attitude of mind and not a description of intelligence.
The library offers a full
range of fiction and non-fiction in both traditional printed and electronic
forms. Indeed, the electronic library is a fantastically well-resourced
facility with a host of subscription resources for students to use to support
their research and learning. Additionally, the library is kitted out with
innovative technology such as interactive screens, iPads and slates.
The library provides an
obvious context for the Wellington community to be intellectually curious: to
think more, to read more and to discuss more. It offers a number of different
spaces for working, including 8 ‘pods’, named after the 8 aptitudes. This
holistic model of education, inspired by Howard Gardner’s work on Multiple
Intelligences, is in the building’s DNA. The pods allow teachers and
students to work in different ways within the same building: the design allows
rigorous debate to co-exist with silent study.
The library is a place
for serious research. In the sixth form, for example, all students
complete an extended dissertation: those studying the IB Diploma write an
Extended Essay; A level students complete an Extended Project
Qualification. This challenging piece of individual research requires
students to work closely with an academic supervisor and with the librarians
and to develop the skills to work independently. The library provides the
context, the resources and the support for these research projects.
Reading, learning,
writing, thinking, debating: these are the characteristics of a scholarly
school. The Mallinson Library gives our current cohort of students the
very best opportunity to embrace scholarship and the life of the mind and to
provide them with the tools for learning and plenty of reading material as they
prepare for university and life beyond Wellington.
Blog: http://wellingtoncollege.edublogs.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Welly_Library
Email: library@wellingtoncollege.org.uk