Larkspur Primary

In September 2020 we began working with Larkspur Primary School in Hertfordshire to support a whole school reading project. Over lockdown, children had missed months of school, so this September it felt more important than ever to reconnect children with books and the pleasure of reading. Since the beginning of the academic year we have put wheels in motion to help Larkspur become a school with reading at its heart.

The staff at Larkspur are keen to get more children reading and want all pupils to have access to a diverse selection of books to help inspire them as well as improve their reading ability.

June 2021-Following the success of Maz Evans’ virtual author visit in November we decided to bring another author to Larkspur (virtually) for the Year 1’s & 2’s. Emma Perry (author) and Rikin Parekh  (illustrator) were a huge hit with the children, many of whom were promising illustrators. The visit was based around Emma’s new book ‘THIS BOOK HAS ALPACAS AND BEARS ‘with a wonderful demonstration from Rikin on how to draw a character from the book. These virtual visits have brought such joy to the children at Larkspur and generated a buzz of excitement around books and reading for pleasure whilst fuelling their creative sides.

March 2021 – The new Library! Over the last month FG Library and Learning have created a beautiful space for the Larkspur pupils. Below you can see what the space looked like before  (top left) and after Andy and his team worked their magic. Read below Andy’s experience of working with Give a Book on our 3rd library project together:

We’ve had the privilege of working with Adeela Khan and Give a Book for the 3rd time now, collaborating to provide engaging environments in which children can read, study or simply enjoy. Larkspur Primary Academy was the latest and my first Give a Book project to be involved with.
 
It was wonderful to meet with Kerry McEwan, Larkspur’s Head Teacher, to discuss the ways in which we could improve the existing space. As with many schools, the library had become an eclectic assortment of shelving, seating and general ‘this and that’ accumulated over a number of years, situated in a noisy, distracting, less than ideal location adjacent to the main hall and at the crossroads of several major thoroughfares.
 
The desire was to create a space in which the children could work towards an increased level of individual reading, to have ‘quiet areas’ in which to relax, fun seating and spaces to share with friends and classmates. Working within the stipulated budget we utilised the shelving to create these spaces and to provide a natural line between the walkways and the library area. Colour was important, reflecting the overall vision of headteacher Kerry, with the emphasis being bright and clean, injecting the school colours and values into the scheme through the use of graphics and seating colours.
 
Having recently visited the new library, it’s clear that together we’ve created a wonderful space for the children to enjoy. I’m excited to see it when all the new books are in place!
(Andy-National Sales Manager)
What a delight it was to see our new library installed, bringing an empty space to life. The books donated by ‘Give a Book’ will certainly bring hours of delight and moments of wonder for our children, which we look forward to enjoying. Thank you isn’t enough for the pleasure the children will get from this new exciting place where they can discover a love of books.   Kerry McEwan-Headteacher

 

December 2020 – This year has been a huge test for us all and with Christmas coming up, we wanted to do something for schools who have endured so much over this past year. As a Christmas gift we sent each Larkspur pupil the gift of a book to take home and enjoy over Christmas. We received a lovely handwritten letter  (below) from a year 6 pupil thanking Give a Book.

November 2020 – After the success of the welcome back book gifts, we set up a Year 5&6 book club. The group started off with Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans and included a fantastic virtual author visit.

The author visit from Maz was truly amazing and the staff thought it was brilliant, my words to Maz were they were ‘buzzing’.

September 2020 – We started by giving a book to each child for the start of their school year. This was a way to welcome the children back to school after an unusual few months, and the gift of a book for each pupil was a way for them to embark on the school’s reading journey.

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