Whitley & Eggborough Community Primary School has transformed a little-used part of its courtyard into an outdoor library in order to maximise the space pupils have available to read and discuss their favourite books.
The outdoor library, which is adjacent to the school’s existing indoor library, features colourful new flooring, a story bench, a picnic table, colourful bean bag seating, an outdoor library shed and a sail shade.
A £2,000 Banks Community Fund grant covered the cost of the project – and the new area is now ready for the children to enjoy.
It’s the second time that the school has received support from the Banks Community Fund, with a £1,000 grant provided last year paying for a new table and chairs to go into its renovated reception area.
Whitley & Eggborough Community Primary School has 224 pupils on its roll, from Reception to Year Six, and works to an ethos of ‘developing happy, confident and enthusiastic children who thrive in a stimulating and exciting environment’.
Its school mascot CHaS The Dragon embodies its core ‘Caring, Helping and Sharing’ beliefs, which are designed to help its pupils become model citizens, and it received a Good rating across all categories in its most recent Ofsted report.
Diane Steward, school business manager at Whitley & Eggborough Community Primary School, says: "Our children love reading and we already have a very well stocked library that’s always really busy, but we wanted to give them even more of a chance to get their noses in a book.
“We’ve had our eye on making better use of this outside area for some time and always felt it would be the ideal place for a bright, attractive outdoor reading area, but we’ve not had the money we’ve needed to make it happen until now.
“The children have been very excited to see what’s been created and we know that it’s going to be really well used, while it will also match with the other renovations we’ve been making around the school over the last year.
“We’re all really appreciative of the support that we’ve had from Banks and can’t wait to see everyone spending time outside in the sunshine with their favourite books.”
The Banks Group is the business behind plans for the development of a landmark integrated extension to the west of Eggborough, which would offer new low carbon homes, enhanced local transport links, a new primary school and nursery, assisted living units, new areas of accessible public open space, other local services and a range of environmental benefits.
Jamilah Hassan, community relations manager at the Banks Group, adds: “This is a brilliant idea that’s going to encourage the children to both read more books and get some more fresh air, and we’re excited to see the new reading area in use in the summer.”
The Banks Community Fund provides grants for community groups and voluntary organisations in the vicinity of Banks Group projects.
Anyone from a community close to a Banks Group project who is interested in applying for funding from the Fund should contact the company via its website enquiry form (www.banksgroup.co.uk/contact-us/) to find out if their group or project is eligible.