A South Lanarkshire primary school is set to introduce a new library and reignite a love of learning among its 300 pupils following the challenges of the pandemic.
Thanks to funding from UKSE, St. Bride’s Primary in Bothwell, which is attended by 240 children in P1-P7 with a further 60 children in the nursery, has received £2500 from UKSE, a Tata Steel subsidiary, to implement the project.
The library is being created to encourage pupils to enjoy reading and storytelling and to support this current generation of young learners in response to the impact of the pandemic on their education.
It will also function as a vital learning hub, helping children and young people to develop critical skills in researching content, evaluating information and understanding how to access valid, trusted data from a variety of sources.
The school’s pupils will be involved in helping to establish the library, with P7 children taking responsibility for planning and budgeting the project along with a senior manager and class teacher.
This will help them to acquire learning outcomes promoted by the Curriculum for Excellence in a real-life setting.
Fiona Cleland, head teacher at St. Bride’s, told Lanarkshire Live : "We wish to thank UKSE for recognising our ambitions to inspire our pupils and bridge the attainment gap.
"By investing in our school library, we want to engage children in learning, ignite their curiosity about the world and fire up their imaginations.
"Reading and storytelling are essential and, most importantly, safe components in keeping children engaged whether they are in the classroom or at home.
"Another great benefit is that our Primary 7 pupils, who are helping to set up the library, will have an opportunity to launch their very own enterprise and develop a further, invaluable skill set."
Terry Quinn, regional executive at UKSE said: "It’s incredibly rewarding to be able to help St. Bride’s Primary in its quest to launch its own library.
"Children were amongst those most adversely impacted by COVID-19, with school closures depriving them of essential face to face time with their teachers and fellow pupils.
"The new library will enable St. Bride’s pupils to rediscover a joy of reading, and provide a more tactile, hands-on resource to complement online learning and our increasingly digital world."
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