School puts the fun back into reading

Stratford St Mary Primary School are putting a love of literacy at the heart of their learning agenda with the unveiling of a brand new school library.

Stratford St Mary Primary School are today unveiling a brand new school library in a bold move that will put the fun back into reading. The school library redevelopment, which has taken almost a year of planning and fundraising, includes easy to reach book shelves, bright colours, comfortable reading pods, as well as an extensive collection of new fiction and non-fiction books.

The school, which is situated in the of village of Stratford St Mary, has 72 pupils ages 4-11 and prides itself on being a family-orientated and caring learning environment where children of all ages are encouraged to be active in making the school the best it can be. The seven member school council, made up of pupils from all classes within the school, was the first to propose redeveloping the library. Lil Peart, age 9, explains why the school council felt a new library would make such a difference to the school: “The old library was really boring and some of the books were falling apart. A new library with new books would make going to the library a lot more fun for all of us.”

Head Teacher for Stratford St Mary Primary School, Elizabeth Kumar adds: “The school are already doing a fantastic job of teaching pupils to read. We are achieving higher than the national average for our reading levels. Now we want to do more. We want to instil in them a passion and joy for reading. It is very clear to me that this is something that the children themselves also want, and something that the new library will go a long way to achieving.”

The new library has been made possible by the dedicated fund raising of the Parent Teacher Association at the school, as well as a generous donation towards new books by the Stratford St Mary Parish Council.

Local author and parent at the school, Laurie Ellingham, has been on the redevelopment team from the start, and explains why she thinks reading for fun is so important: “Books have the power to transport the reader into a different world that will make them think and imagine in ways that no games console has the power to do. The imaginary world of books have no limits or game over’s.”

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