School Life
The Library
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Welcome to the More House School Library page. Here you will find information on our library facilities and extensive resources—designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading and learning.
At More House School, we believe in reading for pleasure in whatever form that takes, and our library is at the heart of fostering that passion. Bathed in natural light with views across the campus, the space is designed to be both inviting and practical, offering spaces for relaxed reading, as well as structured workspaces, Clevertouch screens, PCs, and printers to support academic study.
With over 6,000 resources, pupils can explore a wide variety of formats, including bestsellers, fiction and non-fiction, graphic novels, magazines, audiobooks, eBooks, and study guides. Special collections cater to diverse reading needs, from choose-your-own-ending books to high-interest/low-reading-age selections and abridged classics. Classic literature is complemented by abridged and graphic versions. Non-fiction is organised into colour-coded sections, offering engaging reads alongside study guides, career resources, and materials on neurodiversity and mental health.
Our passionate Librarians work closely with the English department and Literacy Tutors, supporting dedicated library lessons for pupils up to Year 9, where they discover engaging literature and enjoy uninterrupted reading time. Throughout the year, the library comes to life with displays, competitions, author visits, book fairs, and our much-anticipated World Book Day celebrations, a school-wide event that brings reading to life with themed activities and book-related fun.
Beyond reading, the library is open every break and lunch for quiet relaxation and hosts a variety of clubs afterschool, including story making, Lego, and games clubs, and chess and board game evenings for boarders.
Library Noticeboard
Explore the Library Noticeboard for latest news and information:
Browse our catalogue of library books
More information about Reading Cloud and how to log-in:
Interested in eBooks and audiobooks?
More information about SORA and how to log-in:
Reading Rocks! Click to read our top tips for encouraging reading:
Here at the More House Library we celebrate reading in ALL its forms.
Here at the More House Library we celebrate reading in ALL its forms.
Our stock collection of over 6000 resources varies enormously from fun non-fiction to leisure magazines, several younger and older collections of graphic novels, plus a comic corner devoted entirely to Marvel and DC style content. We have a ‘Choose your own ending’ section where you decide how the story develops; short stories and true history story collections; dedicated themed sections with fiction, graphics and non-fiction books on popular series; and carefully curated Barrington Stoke-style collections for older and younger pupils with their renowned clear font and page styling. Classic novels are widely supported by abridged and graphic novel versions, and a wide range of study guides are available for revision support. Our main younger and older fiction collections are packed with all the most popular titles and series.
Our online Sora collections have taken the library resources to a new level with a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, in both eBook and audiobook format, with suggested reading lists for every stage. The read-along collection on Sora combines both eBook and audiobook in one where the text is highlighted as you hear it. This is such a fantastic literacy support!
Whatever type of book you want to try, in whatever format, we aim to provide it.
Audiobooks are a fantastic addition to the More House Library
Audiobooks are a fantastic addition to the More House Library
Our online audio collections on Sora provide access to fiction and non-fiction resources that pupils may find difficult or not want to read independently but would still enjoy listening to. Using audiobook, pupils can access more challenging texts, expand their listening skills and increase vocabulary. Listening to an audiobook is also a great way to spend a long car journey or to have a mindful break from screen time.
Recently, a campaign raised awareness of the benefits of 'turning on the subtitles' when watching TV
Recently, a campaign raised awareness of the benefits of ‘turning on the subtitles’ when watching TV
You can read more about it at the following website Turn On The Subtitles where extensive research outlines the benefits to literacy and learning, for struggling readers as well as confident ones.
This is a simple and free way to turn TV time into reading time.
Graphic novels are BY FAR the most popular resource in the More House Library
Graphic novels are BY FAR the most popular resource in the More House Library
The bubble writing, comic strip format with variety of typefaces makes the text ‘pop out’ of the page in bite-size chinks which are easier to digest. We find that some students can access more complex information in this format than from a page of plain text. In addition to this, the illustrations can advance the plot with information not found in the text, taking the place of long paragraphs of description. It can be easy to dismiss graphic novels. However, carefully curated collections provide a wealth of benefits to all readers. Even more ‘slapstick comedy’ plot lines can have a moral message and students can relate them to real life and make value judgements. Inference skills can be developed by studying the illustrations and the gap between them and the written word, and understanding the thoughts and feelings of others can be illustrated in comic strip format.
The school’s graphic novel collections are popular with all our readers. Finishing a graphic novel right to the end can give a great sense of achievement to those students who may rarely get to the end of a traditional paperback. Achievement in this way can also be a steppingstone for other formats of reading. Our collections also include large series of popular Japanese manga, classic fiction including GCSE and A-level set texts (wherever possible) in graphic format, and classics such as Tin Tin and Asterix, alongside popular new series such as Dog Man or The Bad Guys.
Our online Sora collection includes various accessibility functions for eBooks
Our online Sora collection includes various accessibility functions for eBooks
These include an ‘Open Dyslexic’ font, different page colour backgrounds and contrasts, and the ability for readers to change the font size.
All these can be accessed once the eBook is on loan and open from the icons in the top right.
Our LDC Literacy Tutors advocate the benefits of reading together
Our LDC Literacy Tutors advocate the benefits of reading together
Not only is reading to your child a good way to expose them to more advanced vocabulary, but it provides opportunities to pause regularly and discuss the book. You could use question words like ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘why’ to ensure comprehension; often the burden of decoding words can make this difficult. You can share this by reading alternate lines or pages. You could also help your child to read complicated words by breaking them into sounds and syllables or start off a longer word and leave them to work out the rest from the context.
If your child is reluctant, you can still encourage reading in different ways. Alternatives could include online resources, playing games, reading instructions, following recipes, signs, menus, game cards, etc. It all makes a different, as does letting your child see you read. Parents modelling good reading habits such as newspapers, magazines and books is invaluable. A parent sharing one of their favourite comics from their own childhood create a nostalgic moment – you could even add to the fun by making up voices and sound effects.
Above all, keep it relaxed and enjoyable.
So much more than a library…
Our library is a welcoming, quiet, calm place to spend some downtime, a chance to hang out with a friend for a quiet game of cards, or to catch up on some revision. You certainly don’t have to be a keen reader to want to spend time here.
The library also promotes the benefits of reading for wellbeing
Reading can transport us to another world, providing an escape from the everyday stresses of real life. Assuming that students are accessing the right kind of content in an accessibly appropriate format for their reading level, regular reading for pleasure can significantly reduce stress.
Reading can also improve sleep. Smartphones have become our regular bedtime buddy, and what’s the harm in checking our phone before lights out? For some people, it can affect sleep. Swapping your phone for a book as part of your bedtime ritual may help support your transition from wakefulness to drowsiness.
Whilst reading for pleasure can be an escape from the real world, it can also improve social skills. Reading fiction can support developing empathy, understanding the world around us and other people’s different thoughts, beliefs and desires.
For those who enjoy reading for pleasure, it can provide a wealth of health and wellbeing benefits.
More House School is deeply grateful for the ongoing support from the Friends of More House, who help maintain this vibrant and enriching space.
Get in touch
Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information, or if you have interesting book recommendations for the library.
Lucy Marshall and Sandra Lewin
Call: 01252 792303. Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Or you can follow us on X: @MHSLibrary6