Our daily routines and educational practice are rooted in the twin values of Dignity and Respect.
Phone: 01296 651382Email: office@waddesdonschool.com
The library is open to all students throughout the school day for study and for socialising outside of lessons; it provides students with an open, calm space for independent research, quiet reflection, small group activities and immersion in reading for pleasure. All students can borrow books, DVDs and are welcome to come and read the library magazines. We aim to tailor library clubs and activities to interests that the students have and are keen to explore. We currently run a combination of lunchtime and after school clubs (see Extra-Curricular Activities section) including Calm Wednesdays (where pupils are encouraged to engage with some quiet mindful activities), and a very popular Chess Club on Thursday lunchtimes.
If there is a book you would love to read but you cannot find it on the shelves or if you have read a book you would like to recommend to your peers that we do not already have, please speak to Mrs Staiano!
Don’t forget, you can follow Waddesdon Community Library on X (Formerly Twitter)
The Library provides a safe space
where reading and literacy are promoted,
differences are celebrated,
and everyone is welcome.
Complete Issues
We have access to Complete Issues which is a diverse collection of entry level journals covering a wide range of topics including the environment, bullying and health. Please contact Mrs Staiano lstaiano@waddesdonschool.com for the log-in details.
The London Library
We have been lucky to have our subsidized The London Library subscription extended for a further year, until September 2026. It is an academic virtual and ‘brick’ library with access to hundreads of thousands of resources including JSTOR. Brilliant for Arts and Humanities A Level and EPQ students. Please contact Mrs Staiano
lstaiano@waddesdonschool.com for more information.
Join Your Local Library Service
We encourage students to join Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire Library Service to access further free resources, including free eAudiobooks:
Carnegie Shadowing Group 2025
Pupils in Year 8 were selected to take part in the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme this year. It is a fantastic opportunity to shadow the Carnegie judges in reading, discussing, and reviewing books on the shortlist for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. The group enjoyed seeing if the judges would vote in the same way! The group met fortnightly (Thursday after school with Mrs Staiano and Miss Ogden to discuss the shortlisted books/activities). We had a lovely celebration at the last session discovering the shadowing group winner and the judge’s winner. The group voted ‘King of Nothing’ by Nathanael Lessore as the winner (who was also the national Carnegie Shadowers’ group winner!). ‘The Glasgow Boys’ by Margaret McDonald was another favourite of the group (and Mrs Staiano’s!) and that won the judges 2025 Carnegie medal. Pupils were also presented with certificates (and sweet cones) for taking part. Please see the summer Waddesdon Voice for student write up, photos and book reviews of the two winning titles.
Winner of the Year 7 Storytelling competition
The Curse of Nemesis by Leo S (Year 7)
Let me take you back—far, far back—to the heat of a midsummer day in the year 600 BCE.
The sun burns above Delphi, Athens, Crete… and the lost city of Thessadonia. A city forgotten by maps, carved into a cliff, half-swallowed by time, ruled by shadows. But it is here our story begins.
Two brothers—diplomats, scholars, warriors—walk into legend. Romulus and Remus. Not the wolf-raised founders of Rome—but namesakes, born under a prophecy: “Together they shall mend what the gods have broken… or be broken by what they cannot mend.”
They live among heroes—Hercules, Odysseus—warriors with tales sung over campfires. But Romulus and Remus? They use brains as much as brawn. Romulus, the speaker. Remus, the sword. Together: unstoppable.
But in Thessadonia… they fail.
A man cries out for justice—his life destroyed by a monster that stalks the shadows. His prayers are desperate. His voice reaches the ears of Nemesis, goddess of revenge.
She answers.
And so, do the brothers.
They find the monster beneath the ruined temples. It bleeds not blood, but ichor—golden and glowing. The lifeblood of gods. You can’t just kill something divine. Not fully.
When they strike it—clang!—the creature doesn’t fall. It laughs. And it fights back. They battle through the night—columns crack, statues crumble—but in the end, all they can do is drive it away. The monster vanishes into smoke, laughing as it goes.
Romulus gasps, “We can’t kill it. It’s… a godblood. It bleeds ichor!”
Remus clenches his fists. “Then we need more than steel.”
They retreat. They study. They remember old stories.
The River Styx—the river of unbreakable oaths, the border of life and death.
They travel for nine days and nights, through storms and silence, until they find it. There, they dip a blade into the black waters. A sword that can cut the divine.
They return.
This time, they come with more: a bow carved from olivewood, arrows tipped with celestial bronze, a shield from the forge of Hephaestus himself.
When the monster rises once more, the brothers don’t speak.
They act.
Romulus blinds it with the shield’s light. Remus strikes with the sword of Styx. The creature howls. Its ichor burns the ground—but now, it hurts. Now, it can bleed.
And finally… it falls.
But victory has a price.
Nemesis does not offer help freely. Her blessing twists into a curse.
Romulus, the speaker, loses his voice—forever silenced by the oath he swore to her.
Remus, the warrior, finds his hands cursed—unable to ever hold a weapon again without pain.
They return home, victorious… but changed.
Legends say they still wander, one silent, one scarred—but always watching. For monsters never die. They just sleep.
And heroes?
Heroes never rest.
“And so the curse of Nemesis lingers… in every tale of revenge, and every price we pay for justice.”
Author Visit
Steve Cole (celebrated local author and internationally acclaimed writer) visited Waddesdon on Tuesday 8th July. He ran an animated session with Year 7, which involved him working with our students to ‘evolve a sentence’ through setting, imagination and language. He then spoke to Year 8 about some of the inspiration behind the Young Bond series discussing some amazing real spy gadgets. Steve then stayed on to sign books in the Library at lunchtime and chat to pupils. We all loved his energy and enthusiasm, and you could really see how he inspired the Year 7 finalists in their Storytelling performance (which was held the next day).
We celebrated World Book Day this year (2025) on Thursday 6th March with a variety of book-related activities throughout the day.
Mrs Staiano (Librarian) started the day by giving a World Book Day ‘Kate Bush’ inspired assembly with some of the Year 12’s (Izzy, Tamara and Rob) who showed an amusing video about teachers favourite books (including Wuthering Heights!) and ending with a whole school assembly Literary Quiz which provided great excitement!
Book quizzes, origami, blind date with a book as well as the very popular ‘Guess the book in the jar’ took place in the Library at lunch and break, and we had a visit by the pre-school (dressed in their favourite book characters!) in the afternoon to read with some of our Year 7 pupils. A write up of the day (by Thea in Year 8) can be found in the Spring issue of The Waddesdon Voice here.
Congratulations to Jacob (Yr 9) for winning the ‘Guess the book in the jar’ (‘Ratburger’!) and Evie (Yr 12) was one of only 3 entrants who got 10/10 in the ‘Book quiz’. Well done!
Thank you to everyone who helped make the day such a success, by participating in the assembly quiz, taking part in the WBD activities in the Library, or reading to the pre-school children.
