Denaby Main Primary Academy in Doncaster has become the first school to benefit from our new partnership with Chase - a newly launched digital bank. Supported by Penguin Random House UK, the Rewarding Futures initiative has helped transform an underused central area into a space that puts reading at the heart of the school.
The transformation includes new modular furniture, shelving, a display space, a space for parents to meet and be involved with their child’s reading and a gathering space for events such as author visits. The new library has benefitted from 500 new books, e-readers, and audio books.
Local artist, author, and Doncaster Stories manager, Philip Sheppard, created a mural for the library depicting a local street scene from his children’s book series Discover Doncaster.
Teachers at the school will receive bespoke training to equip them with strategies to create a culture of reading for pleasure in the school community, expand their knowledge of children’s literature, and support to maintain the reading spaces as hubs of imagination and creativity.
Families and carers of children at the school will be provided with guidance and advice on how to support their children with reading, as well as invitations to special community and school literacy events, and author readings.
Kay Godfrey, Regional Director at Astrea Academy Trust, commented: “This new library is at the heart of our school at Denaby Main and we are under no doubt that it will transform the lives of our pupils. Children now have access to a wonderful array of amazing books – from fiction to non-fiction, from poetry to the best picture books around. Not only that, this new space will enable children to share books with their friends and families like never before, with the e-books and audio players opening up new, infinitely more accessible ways to discover new stories and voices. We are incredibly grateful for our new library which provides a real legacy for our children and will have a huge impact on their lives for many years to come.”
Sanoke Viswanathan, CEO of Chase in the UK, commented: “It’s great to see the school library transformation at Denaby Main take shape. This school is the first of many school library transformations as part of our commitment to support children’s literacy in the UK.”