Warwickshire Schools Library Service: Great School Libraries Project

Schools in Nuneaton and Bedworth borough to receive dedicated reading support thanks to new ‘Great School Libraries’ project.

A new project will see Warwickshire Schools Library Service (SLS) supporting a number of schools in the Nuneaton and Bedworth area to help their pupils improve their reading and learning. Called ‘Warwickshire Great School Libraries’, and complementing Warwickshire County Council’s Nuneaton Education Strategy, the three-year project will benefit pupils at Nathaniel Newton Infant School in Hartshill, Middlemarch Junior School in Nuneaton and Keresley Newland Primary Academy.

Each school will receive bulk book collection loans and equipment from the Schools Library Service and digital support and visits from a library specialist, who will work in their school libraries on a regular basis in the coming months as this becomes possible. Michael Drayton Junior School in Hartshill will also work with the project, providing a mentoring role and staff to assist the other schools involved.

The ‘Warwickshire Great School Libraries’ project, which will run for three academic years from September 2020 to July 2023, has been funded by a grant of £77,050 from Warwickshire County Council’s Early intervention, Prevention and Community Capacity Fund. By providing staff support to run their school libraries, increasing opportunities for pupils to read for pleasure and more widely, and establishing of a culture of reading in the schools, the aim is to raise reading and learning attainment levels, particularly among those pupils that are not achieving the required levels at Key Stages 1 and 2.

The project will also provide opportunities for pupils to improve their reading fluency and comprehension skills, with access to promotional activities run by the Schools Library Service as well as other national reading promotions. It is hoped that, by the end of the project, the schools will feel equipped and confident enough to continue the work in the future, and there will be a full evaluation of the success of the project at the end of the three years.

Stella Thebridge, School Library Service Manager and Project Manager said: 

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the SLS to make a real difference in these schools and hopefully to enable them and others further down the line to reap the benefits of support for reading initiatives and the regular influx of high quality and engaging reading material going into primary schools.”

Councillor Kam Kaur, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Customer and Transformation, said: 

“Warwickshire County Council is pleased to support these schools to become self-supporting in their reading work with their pupils, and we hope this contributes to the aims and outcomes of the Nuneaton Education Strategy over the longer term.”

Please do get in touch with us if you would like more information about this or any of the other services that we can offer: schoolslibraryservice@warwickshire.gov.uk