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Fenland school has new bespoke library thanks to flagship project led by top author Cressida Cowell




A Fenland school is now the proud owner of a bespoke library housing over 1,000 brand new books and it is all thanks to a flagship project.

Benwick Primary School has teamed up with Waterstones Children's Laureate Cressida Cowell as part of the project to transform school libraries and on Thursday she was at the school for the launch of the new facility.

Headteacher Clare Talbot said the children have been blown away by the library that has come complete with new furniture and a dedicated piece of artwork created by Cressida, best-selling author-illustrator of the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ series, to mark the project, which has seen six very different primary schools chosen to benefit.

New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell.....left to right Cressida Cowell, Paige Hilliard and Mia Hilliard... (48558164)
New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell.....left to right Cressida Cowell, Paige Hilliard and Mia Hilliard... (48558164)

The aim of Cressida's initiative is to showcase the transformative impact a well-resourced primary school library has on a child’s opportunities in life, alongside the vast inequality currently facing children across England.

‘Life-changing Libraries’ aims to develop a reading for pleasure culture, with the support of BookTrust.

Clare said the school has been overwhelmed at being chosen to gain the bespoke library and said it is now the proud owners of a treasure trove of books to hopefully inspire all children to enjoy reading.

New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell. (48558125)
New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell. (48558125)

She said: "We have every kind of book imaginable, we have board books for preschool all the way up to a huge collection of poetry as well as all the major titles - there is every book a child could possibly want.

"The project aims to promote reading for enjoyment. The challenge is to get every child reading and start their journey into reading which is the gateway into so many other things in life.

"Books have to compete with so many things these days such as television, DVDs, iPads, phones and virtual reality games. We want to inspire our children into reading and to change their life. Reading can take them to the world beyond Benwick and that is amazing.

New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell...Head teacher Clare Talbot. (48558153)
New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell...Head teacher Clare Talbot. (48558153)

"The library is just the start, the project will also be funding visits from authors over the coming year to do workshops with the children.

"We feel so blessed to have been chosen to be part of this project, only one primary school in eight has a dedicated library space and to see the children's faces when they visited ours for the first time was magical.

"Watching them listen to Cressida was also amazing, they were enthralled and their faces were lit up. A number of parents said that their children wanted to start writing their own stories when they got home, which is wonderful.

New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell. (48558156)
New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell. (48558156)

"Reading opens the door to so many things, and can help with their own writing skills and part of the project will be to monitor the impact the new library has had on the children's learning and attitudes to books and reading."

Another part of the project is professional training and mentoring for staff from specialists at the School Library Association as well as access to other training.

Cressida has also called on the Prime Minister to help reverse the spiralling inequality in education by putting primary school libraries at the heart of the long-term response to the pandemic with a ring fenced, yearly investment of £100m.

New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell. (48558517)
New library at Benwick school opened by Cressida Cowell. (48558517)

Earlier this year she published an open letter – supported by former Laureates, literacy organisations, and publishing industry leaders – asking the Government to demonstrate their commitment to levelling up the country by improving primary school library provision.

The Children’s Laureate highlighted the shocking reality – and severe long-term underfunding – of England’s primary school libraries with evidence showing a lack of the key ingredients: space, resource and expertise.

Whilst every prison has a statutory library, research shows one in eight primary schools has no library space at all – a statistic that doubles in schools with a higher proportion of children on free school meals.

Cressida stresses this lack of provision means millions of children – particularly those from the poorest communities worst hit by the pandemic and whose parents cannot afford books – are missing out on the opportunity to become a reader for pleasure and the vital benefits this brings.



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