Discovery Centre and Sanctuary

The Discovery Centre

The Discovery Centre is a place for exploration and discovery about our world and the universe. It houses our extensive new library, from which teachers and children across the school can borrow books. The Discovery Centre is, however, much more than just our new library! It is also our STEM hub at Southborough. STEM stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. 

Book Reviews and Book Recommendations

Not sure what to read next? Ask for a book recommendation and we will find something for you! When you complete this form, Miss Hinton and our Year 6 Reading Champions will find your next book for you. When your book recommendation is ready, your Discovery Centre Ambassadors will collect your new book and bring it back to your classroom for you.

If you have really enjoyed reading a book from the Discovery Centre, you can also submit a book review! All children are encouraged to submit a book review, if they would like to, for a book they have borrowed from our Discovery Centre. Every term, we will select reviews to be displayed alongside book reviews by our Reading Champions in the Discovery Centre.

The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary is a very special space at the heart of our school where our children can find peace, reflect in prayer and flourish together in Christian community. In the autumn we asked pupils and staff what they would like to see the Sanctuary used for. Their vision is that the Sanctuary becomes a guiding light, a safe harbour, a beacon of hope and a solid foundation for our school community.

Keepers, Ambassadors and Champions

Discovery Centre Ambassadors, Year 6 Keepers and Reading Champions all work together to promote the Discovery Centre, the Sanctuary and reading to children across the school. 

Year 6 Keepers

Our Year 6 Keepers look after the Discovery Centre and the Sanctuary. A Keeper is someone charged with responsibility for the preservation and conservation of something valuable. Our Year 6 children are all invited to apply for the position of Keeper. They work for one term in either the Discovery Centre or the Sanctuary for one lunchtime every week.

Being a Keeper means holding a position of responsibility in our school. We expect that Keepers will promote our school vision in all that they do and become beacons of light in our school community.

Each week, Keepers share podcasts about the Discovery Centre and the Sanctuary which you can watch here:

Find out who our Keepers this term are and what they are doing below:

Keepers of the Discovery Centre

Our Keepers of the Discovery Centre look after the library in the Discovery Centre and promote the space to children across the school.

Keepers of the Sanctuary

Our Keepers of the Sanctuary look after the Sanctuary and ensure that everyone treats it with respect and care.

Discovery Centre Ambassadors

Our Discovery Centre Ambassadors are children who act as ambassadors for the Discovery Centre in their classroom. An Ambassador is a representative or promoter of a specified activity. Ambassadors help their class teacher to choose new books from the Discovery Centre and they look after their classroom library. All children in Years 2-6 have the opportunity to be the Discovery Centre Ambassador for their class during the school year.

This week, our Discovery Centre Ambassadors are:

Reading Champions

Our Reading Champions promote reading for pleasure across our school. To be a champion means to enthusiastically support or promote a belief, right or principle. Our Reading Champions are responsible for sharing their love of reading and promoting the right to read for pleasure. Every term, our Reading Champions lead an assembly during which they share their love for reading with the whole school.

This term, we have two groups of Reading Champions. Reading Champions meet once a week in the Discovery Centre and they are all expected to read lots and write book reviews about the books they have read. As Reading Champions, they have the privilege of being able to use the Discovery Centre during their lunchtimes to read a book, browse the library, write a book review or work on their projects. Find out what they are up to below:

Literature in Translation

This term, Reading Champions are reading texts translated to English from another language. Both groups will be encouraged to read lots of books from the Literature in Translation section from our collection, sharing their thoughts and findings with the rest of the Southborough reading community at the end of this term.

Year Five

Nancy, Louis, Oliver, Orla, Oscar and Bella are reading, Yours Sincerely, Giraffe, written by Megumi Iwasa. The book was translated to English from the original Japanese by Cathy Hirano. At the end of the term, they will share their project to bring their book to life in our Reading Champions’ Collective Worship.

Year Six

Martha, Rose, Toby, Yasmin, Ted and Frank are reading Astrid the Unstoppable, written by Maria Parr and translated from Norweigan by Guy Puzey. Our Year Six Reading Champions will work together to share what they have learnt with the rest of Southborough in our Reading Champions’ Collective Worship at the end of the term.

Reading Champions' Collective Worship

At the end of each term, Reading Champions lead the Reading Champions' Collective Worship, sharing the books they have been reading with the pupils at Southborough. 

Collective Worship is an opportunity for Reading Champions to promote reading for pleasure, share their ideas and 'bring a book to life' through their creative projects. 

Term 1's Collective Worship video can be viewed below. Year 5 and 6 pupils share their experiences reading 'Cli-Fi' and their various projects relating to the genre:

Term 1 Reading Champions' Collective Worship Video

You can watch the Collective Worship video for Term 2 below. Reading Champions in Year 5 and 6 introduce the Black history texts they read during term 2 and share their end of term projects:

Term 2 Reading Champions' Collective Worship Video