Archive for the ‘learning’ Category
What’s on at The Library?
Another edition of the quarterly publication What’s On at the Library is now available from Waltham Forest Library Service.
You can find information about Cityread London 2013, reading groups in LBWF libraries, family arts and craft activities and Rhythm, Rap and Rhyme events.
A great range of stimulating and exciting things to explore within the context of your local library.
Look out for the featured history events – stories of migration, history of your house and Just Like Morris – great activities reminding us of our past and how our experiences now will affect all our futures.
Get to your library, get thinking – get informed and entertained in Waltham Forest!
Download free e-Books

Do you have a Waltham Forest library card? Do you have a PC, Mac or tablet device? Then the library service has a great facility for you.
With you library card you can download free eBooks at any time from the London Libraries Consortium web pages. Simply create an eLibrary account on the web site, using your Waltham Forest library card details.
There’s also a Guided Tour about downloading digital media.
Simply install a small piece of free software to your device, when you log in, and you are ‘good to read’.
Titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period. There are no late fees!
History, drama, teenage fiction, current events, short stories and much more. An electronic library the whole family can enjoy and read together on your own device.
What’s on at the library?
The borough have just published the first in a new series of quarterly guides for events at local libraries.
The current guide, for January to March 2013, gives you information about books, events, courses and web sites that are useful for children, mums and dads too.
Whether you want a course to help you get on top of your finances, a book launch event about Serbian Fairy Tales or a cartoon Comic Lab – then the new guide is for you.
A Primary place?
The deadline for applications for applying for a primary school place is getting nearer – online and paper applications should be submitted by 15th January 2013.
Waltham Forest has a very comprehensive web page, which gives you information about applying for a primary school place. You can find it here on the borough web site.
The easiest and most secure way to apply is online. There is a link to the online applications website here. Alternatively, a paper application form can be downloaded here (pdf) , requested from the School Admissions Service or from your child’s nursery or early years setting.
The School Admissions Service in the borough can be contacted here…
School Admissions Service, Sycamore House, Town Hall Complex, Forest Road, Walthamstow, London, E17 4JF Tel: 0845 200 1551
10am – 4pm, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday
primary.admissions@walthamforest.gov.uk
Reading this Autumn
Did you know that children can borrow up to 15 books and 6 junior CD’s for free from the Borough Library Service?
Your local library offers not ony access to books, but also to computer learning facilties, story-telling and craft activities, as well as home work clubs and holiday activities.
For younger children, your local library is a great place to check out the Bookstart programme – designed to offer every child a pack of free books and fun materials about reading.
If you haven’t yet, take a leaf out of our book – get down to your local library this Autumn and join in the fun.
You can find more information about children’s book services in the borough here.
Advice about how to join your library can be found here, including how to join on-line too. Happy reading…
Make Your Mark on History
This is a competition, with the support of Waltham Forest Library Service, for artists, writers, poets and photographers – of any age – to submit a piece of original creative work during Black History Month.
As part of Black History Month we are looking for Waltham Forest residents young and old to submit their own original artwork, photos and poetry on the theme of ‘Recognising the Past, Shaping the Future: What Black History Month Means to Me’. Winning entries will be selected from a variety of age groups and reproduction of this work will feature on bookmarks and/or postcards available to the public within Waltham Forest Libraries.
You can find all the details for this competition here on the Waltham Forest web pages… Get creative for posterity!
World Book Day 2013?
World Book Day next year will be on March 7th, 2013.
Now is the time for nurseries and primary schools to register their interest in taking part in this great literacy event for children. Eight more great books will be available for only £1 each.
The World Book Day web site has some great resources available for children, schools and parents and carers. You can download resources now from this World Book Day web page here.
Once registered more materials are available to support learning – look out for the ‘sign-up’ link on the resources page – use them in the classroom, at home, or in your library.
You can see the books selected for next year’s event here…and there will be some great events and activities taking place too!
The Legacy of Independence
October 2012 will see a wide range of activities and events to celebrate Black History Month in Waltham Forest. The theme this year is ‘The Legacy of Independence’.
You can find a free online booklet from Waltham Forest mapping the celebration here.
Inside you will find events for children and families, history events and film screenings and workshops. Some events will charge a small entrance fee, but those taking place in Borough libraries and at the Vestry House Museum are free.
Waltham Forest have a complete diary web page for Black History Month events, making it easy to find an event near you – find it online here.
For parents, carers and with some titles for children, the Borough library service have created a recommended reading list for the month. You can see it here…
William Morris Gallery – newly refreshed!
The William Morris Gallery in Waltham Forest has a new web site. You can see it here. Exhibitions and hands-on family activities.
The William Morris Gallery – in Walthamstow, London, the place of Morris’ birth – has been transformed to create a new world-class destination and international centre of excellence for the study of Morris, where visitors can enjoy the most intense and personal encounter with one of the foremost creative artists and original thinkers of the nineteenth century.
The new Waltham Forest web site for the gallery is a triumph. With information, images and some great links to a William Morris Twitter feed and a gallery Facebook page too.
Located near Lloyd Park in Forest Road, the gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday and admission is free. (The major building refurbishment was funded by the Borough and the Heritage Lottery Fund).
Whether you are interested in art and design, in exploring the history of the Borough through Morris’s work or just to visit and have a cup of tea in the refreshed cafe, then the gallery website is a great learning place to start with.
You can find more information about William Morris and his impact on art and culture here, courtesy of Wikipedia…
Summer Reading Challenge launches today!
The 1st July marks the start of Waltham Forest Summer Reading Challenge 2012.
Every library in the borough is taking part in the reading programme and will be supporting the Challenge with a diverse range of activities in each library. You can read more in the current Summer Daze. See below.
The challenge for children is simple: read 6 books over the summer holidays and we’ll give you a poster, stickers and prizes along the way as you complete each stage. PLUS, complete six books and you’ll receive a certificate and a medal!
So lets get reading this summer, as well as enjoying our visit to the library with puppet shows, arts and craft events, story times and more…
Can you read six books this summer?



