Opening Times

8 am - 4.00 pm Mon - Thur

8 am - 4pm Fri

Melksham Oaks Discovery Centre is a spacious, vibrant, welcoming part of the school which is always a hive of activity.

Comprising of an upper and lower floor which is full of big sofas and bean bags, we hold approximately 13,000 books which include reference, non-fiction and fiction. Our fiction books, which include the majority of those that can be found in the national top 20 reading lists, cover everything from adventure, humour, teen reads to horror. This has had a massive impact on literacy across the school with loan statistics above 6,000 books a year.
We take great pride in our displays that are always seasonal or topical. We also have a big theme and deck out the whole library once a year!

The Discovery Centre’s extended hours provide our pupils with a safe, welcoming place where they can:

  • Read quietly
  • Quiz on Accelerated Reader
  • Use the resources to do research
  • Complete homework
  • Use the IT facilities
  • Play games with their friends during break and lunch

All year groups are welcome before school from 8am and after school until 4.00pm. Year groups have their own specific days that they can use the Discovery Centre during both break and lunchtimes, sometimes as many as 100 students choose to visit us!

We have had visits from some amazing authors in the past including Cathy Hopkins, Joffrey White and David Gatward.

Year 7 and 8 enjoy timetabled English lessons in the Discovery Centre with their English teacher, where the students develop their reading skills through the Accelerated Reader program and enjoy focussed, quiet reading time.

Some images of our library are included in the gallery below:

Accelerated Reader

In 2014 we introduced Accelerated Reader to our Y7. Its success has prompted us to continue using the program for the current Y7 as they move to Y8.

Accelerated Reader (AR) is a powerful tool for monitoring and managing independent reading practice. With AR, teachers can create a reading programme to meet the needs of every student. AR produces an average of two years reading age growth in just one academic year.

Using information generated by the software in the form of a Star Test, teachers and our school librarians can help students select books that are difficult enough to keep them challenged, but not too difficult to cause frustration.

In addition, it helps teachers to monitor students’ vocabulary growth, literacy skills development and reading skills taught through other reading schemes.

Find out more about Accelerated Reader here.

Discovery Centre Team

Lucy Curry-Learning Resource Centre Manager

I joined the Discovery Centre at Melksham Oak in 2017 as an assistant and am now proud to be the Learning Resource Centre Manager. I enjoy the challenge of every day and feel privileged to work in such an amazing, vibrant environment with our lovely students who make me smile every day.

I have had many jobs in the education setting but can honestly say that being the Learning Resource Centre Manager at MOCs is the best by far.

Out of school, I really value spending time with my family, gardening, reading and walking with my rescue dog, Molly. My favourite place to be is by the sea and love nothing more than a long walk on a quiet beach, even if it is raining which it often is.