A £15,000 school
library makeover will be officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Bradford and
celebrated with inspiring talks and storytelling from top children's author,
Phil Earle.
The library at
Sandal Primary School in Baildon is now a spectacular space for children to
read and learn in after it won a competition run by the School Library.
Association and the
National Literacy Trust Hub in Bradford, as well as furniture company
BookSpace, who designed and funded the renovation. The project is part of the
National Literacy Trust Hub in Bradford - an initiative to raise literacy
levels in the area.
The new library has
already proven popular with pupils with a 276% increase in loans in the first
two weeks since it opened on 1 October, compared to the same time period a
year ago in the non-refurbished library.*
Sandal Primary
School’s original library was housed in a small, uninviting room where
activities were restricted to selecting books to borrow. Seating areas for
quiet reading were limited as the library had doors leading to a classroom
and reprographics room as well as the main entrance. Younger children
couldn’t reach the higher book shelves and there wasn’t enough space for
parents and carers to visit the
library with their children.
Now, Sandal Primary
School’s larger, more centrally located art room and ICT suite has been
transformed into a bright and colourful library where pupils can discover and
enjoy new books. Boasting innovative seating dedicated to reading and
inviting shelves filled with shiny new books amongst beautiful woodland
themed décor, the library welcomes children to explore and lose themselves in
books.
The library can now
also host workshops, literacy-themed holiday clubs, author visits and other
creative events to support and develop reading throughout the school and in
the wider community. Outside normal school hours, the library is open to
parents and carers for book lending and learning, creating a nurturing
environment where children and their families can develop a lifelong love of
reading and literature.
To celebrate,
award-winning author, Phil Earle will be inspiring pupils to read with talks
and storytelling on Wednesday 21 October to 300 children at Sandal Primary
School. Fifty Key Stage 2 pupils from Glenaire Primary School, Baildon C of E
Primary School and Allerton Primary School have been invited to join in the
fun. In the afternoon, the Lord Mayor will be visiting the new space with
Councillors and school governors.
Sandal Primary
School will receive advice and staff training from the School Library
Association to ensure its new reading space becomes an example for other
schools across the country to learn from.
The school will
make their new library is accessible to other schools so they can benefit
from the project by providing a base for training teachers and school
librarians. BookSpace have also started an online diaryspace on their website
to allow staff and children to blog about the progress of the library.
Louise Dale,
Headteacher at Sandal Primary School said:
"A love of
reading for pleasure and as a doorway to knowledge and understanding of our
world is our highest priority. The new library caused great excitement during
its creation and now that it is open, the children and staff have all shown
great enthusiasm for the inspiring reading space provided. It is a huge asset
to our children and families."
The National
Literacy Trust’s Bradford Hub Manager, Imran Hafeez said:
“BookSpace and the
School Library Association have provided Sandal Primary School with a
welcoming and inspiring school library which is so important for instilling a
love of reading in children. I’m looking forward to finding out about how all
the exciting plans they have for it are progressing”
BookSpace Managing
Director Helen Thomas said:
“We’re really
pleased with this reading space we’ve created with Sandal Primary – the
enthusiasm of pupils and staff has really shone through in the creation of it
and we’re really excited to continue working with them to test innovative
ways of using and managing the space.
The aim of the
project is to create a centre of excellence within a school where a reading
culture can thrive, so we’ll be monitoring and evaluating developments and
documenting best practice which will form the basis of a blueprint for
primary school reading spaces that will be shared with schools across the
country.”
School Library
Association Director Tricia Adams said:
“The School Library
Association is delighted to be working with BookSpace and the Bradford
Literacy Campaign to create this wonderful library in a school where there is
such a commitment to cultivating a positive environment for reading and
learning.
A welcoming school
library helps ensure pupils can fulfil their potential and boosts a school’s
capacity to promote reading for enjoyment to parents, carers and the
community, so I’m looking forward to
further supporting Sandal Primary to develop a beacon of inspiration for
other school libraries.”
*(216 books were
loaned between 1-14 October 2015 compared to 78 books between 1-14 October
2014)