Dear Parents, 

As you may be aware, we have recently been in the process of converting our outside classroom, previously used as a sport changing facility and PE equipment storage, into a bespoke school library where all of our children can enjoy a stimulating environment and the magic of reading a quality fiction book.  

At the start of November, we advertised our #ALLWEWANTFORCHRISTMASISBOOKS campaign and the response we received was nothing short of amazing. On behalf of the staff and most importantly our children, I would like say a huge thank you to every person who donated to our fundraising. Your generosity will have such a positive impact on so many children currently in our school and long into the future. In less than one month, we were able to raise a whopping £1365.00 which we will use to purchase brand new fiction books and other furnishings to decorate the library. Going forward, not only would we like to continue to develop the new library for our children, it is our intention to use it as an opportunity to strengthen links with our parents and the wider community. We also intend to provide books for our parents and family members so that the library is not just for the children but our whole school family. We feel that developing this reading space would be a perfect location for our staff and volunteers to read with our children, so that as many children as possible are reading on a more frequent basis. 

As a way of celebrating the opening of the library, on Monday 6th December 2021, the children in our school will be visited by the famous local children’s author Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Frank has very kindly offered to come to our school and talk to the children about being a renowned author and the importance of reading. He has also offered to be our ‘special guest’ and will officially open the library for us. Frank has also offered to donate books to the library and I have arranged for him to bring a selection of his books to school which the children can purchase and have exclusively signed. Many of the children have already spoken of their excitement about this event and have shown interest in purchasing a book. I recommend that if your child wishes to purchase a signed book, could they please bring some money (books will cost £6.00 each) next Monday and we can arrange for them to purchase a book of their choice. 

Finally, I would like to bring to your attention the next stage of our #ALLWEWANTFORCHRISTMASISBOOKS campaign. The staff have put together a list of books we would like your children to enjoy across all of our classes. We have compiled this list into an ‘Amazon Wishlist’ (found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/UL8UEBL9YP3V?ref_=wl_share) and ask you to consider making a purchase from the list which will be sent directly to school and placed immediately onto the shelves of our library. We are aware that at this time of year, there can often be pressure from children to buy their teacher a gift. Whilst we are always extremely grateful for the generosity shown by our parents, we ask that for any parents who were considering buying their child’s teacher a gift, to consider redirecting your kindness directly towards our children by purchasing a book from our wish list. We often have grandparents, and other family members of our children wanting to support the school and we felt that this would be a good opportunity to spread our wish list further afield. Not only will your child, their friends and classmates benefit, but countless other children long into the future. I really hope that this request does not sound ungrateful in any way. Obviously, any gifts given to teachers will be accepted with the utmost gratitude. We just felt that this was a fantastic opportunity to give back to the most important people in our school - your children. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this update about our school library project: we hope you are as excited as we are. If you would like any clarification on anything mentioned in this letter please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Mr MacAreavy & Mr Mainwaring