MY BURFORD - MRS V STOREY - ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN

Our Assistant Librarian Mrs V Storey reflects on her role and time at Burford School as part of our new 'My Burford' series.

This feature series aims to shine a spotlight on the superb staff team at Burford who make it possible for us to offer 'the best of education' to our students.

I started at Burford in May 2023, so I have only worked here for about a year and a half. Prior to this I worked at a primary school as a 1:1 Teaching Assistant. When my daughter started at Burford, she always talked about the library and the staff, and to me it sounded amazing. This became a bit of a running joke in our house that I wanted to work in the school library, particularly with a surname like ‘Storey’. So, when the job was advertised it just seemed like fate that I should apply and here I am. 

Although my title is Assistant Librarian, I wear many hats (so to speak) within the school. I also work with the English department and members of the Senior Leadership Team. In the library my main role is to support the Librarian. I carry out a variety of jobs, from data collection to creating new displays. I run library competitions, organise the books and resources, as well as lead the Student Librarian team. I have also run a number of lunchtime clubs, including a creative writing club and Canva Club (a computer-based application for design). 

Within the English Department I help to organise school trips for all year groups with relation to English. I also help with the order for the English GCSE textbooks and other admin duties that the English Department might need. As part of my work with Senior Leadership I help with the set up for training for staff at Burford and maintain our Professional Development IT system. So, as you can imagine all this keeps me quite busy, there is never a dull moment. 

There have been some amazing highlights for me in my time here so far. We have had numerous fantastic author visits in which the students have thoroughly shone. Within my first month we took the creative writing club to the Cotswolds Wildlife Park, which really helped me engage with the students, particularly being a new staff member. But for me the best event was taking part in the Cheltenham Literature Festival, with its’ workshops and author presentations.   

What make Burford special to me isn’t just the big events like author visits, that really inspire the students, but it’s the day to day. Watching the students come in and use the library, whether that is for studying, taking part in a club or just a safe space and seeing them grow in knowledge as well as confidence. I am so glad we can provide that for them as well as other opportunities for the students to nurture and build their identities.