Children’s Laureate joins forces with Griffin Primary School to launch ‘Life-changing Libraries’

Today, Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Cressida Cowell MBE has announced plans for a new initiative 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’ is Cressida’s flagship project as the prestigious Waterstones Children’s Laureate. Over the course of a year, six very different primary schools across England – including Griffin Primary School in Wandsworth, South London – will be helped to develop a reading for pleasure culture, with the support of BookTrust and Cressida.

Karen Bastick-Styles, Executive Head Teacher of Griffin Primary School, said: ‘We are delighted and privileged to be part of this exciting project. A new library will quite literally change the lives of so many of our young people – taking them on adventures, inspiring their imagination and supporting their academic success. This Library will also support our families and local Community, offering a place of joy and positivity, a place of connection and learning – with books everywhere! Books can be a luxury for so many. With such an amazing initiative at Griffin, books will bring the outside world to our Griffin students, opening up learning, knowledge and experiences. This will give access to enjoyment now, and opportunities forever!’

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

The internationally bestselling author-illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon series has today 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 to ‘help children whose future now lies in the balance.’

The Children’s Laureate highlights 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.

Cowell stresses that 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 at home – are missing out on the opportunity to become a reader for pleasure and the vital benefits this chance brings. Alongside public libraries, school libraries are vital to giving all children access to books and reading. Decades of research shows the importance this has on a child’s educational development, health and well-being, personal growth and future prospects no matter their starting point in life, and how pivotal this is in not only determining a child’s later economic success, but also the economy.

Cressida Cowell’s letter outlines how a ring fenced, yearly investment of £100m could help ensure that all schools have access to the key ingredients required to create and sustain a library space and develop a culture of reading for pleasure. It also refers to the PE and sport premium introduced in 2013 helping ensure that all young people have the opportunity to experience the numerous benefits of physical activity, with Cowell asking: ‘Surely the opportunity to become a reader for pleasure is just as important? How is it fair that some children are being given this immeasurable advantage in life, but stark book poverty means many more are denied this same chance to change their future?’

About Life-changing Libraries

The project will spotlight the four pillars of a successful ‘gold standard’ school library – space, book provision, expertise, and whole-school and parent involvement. It is inspired by Cressida’s twenty-year experience visiting schools and grounded in the most recent research into the benefits of reading for pleasure and the challenging financial reality facing primary school libraries.

A bespoke, dedicated library space will be created by BookTrust in each of the six primary schools and stocked with a specially curated book list of approximately 1000 titles, selected by BookTrust’s expert book selection team with guidance from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), to inspire and engage children. Staff will be provided with professional training and mentoring from specialists at the School Library Association as part of a two year-membership, and teachers will have access to the CLPE’s Power of Reading Training and Membership.

The project is being supported by: Reading Cloud, who are providing a library management system subscription for each school; FG Library and Learning, who are helping refresh spaces with furniture and display products; Promote Your School, who are creating bespoke wall art; Rising Stars Reading Planet, who are donating online eBook subscriptions to each school; Jobtrain; Tonies, who are providing each school a Toniebox; leading UK publishers, who are donating books to stock the new library spaces; and CLPE, who are providing Power of Reading Membership for all the schools.

Building is set to begin on the libraries this month ahead of officially opening in June 2021. The project will monitor the impact on pupils’ engagement, attitudes and reading behaviour across 12 months, collecting qualitative stories and case studies.

The six schools are: Benwick Primary School (Cambridgeshire), Dinnington Community Primary School (Rotherham), Griffin Primary School (Wandsworth), Saviour CE Primary (Manchester), Skerne Park Primary School (Darlington) and Woodchurch C of E Primary School (Wirral).