Students of the Holy Innocents Primary reading in their new library, which was opened on World Book Day, April 23. (A.Olton/MRD)
The Holy Innocents Primary School has a new library. Thanks to a private sponsor, children at the Ayshford, St. Thomas school now have a beautifully decorated haven for reading.
Principal Marvaline Chadderton explained that after their old library was over-run by “wood worms”, the pupils’ main access to story books was through the National Library Service’s Schools’ Mobile Library, so she reached out to corporate Barbados for help.
“We got a sponsor to help us to refurbish it. We got some metal book shelves, and we decided to make it attractive by decorating the room to give the children the incentive of wanting to come into this room to read, and so it has achieved its purpose,” she said.
The library was opened on World Book Day, which was observed on Tuesday, April 23, this year. It boasts a cosy reading area where children can sit on soft cushions under a mural tree with 3-D leaves.
“The children are all excited about it…and they just love the atmosphere. We want to encourage children to read more because we find in this day of technology, children are gravitating more towards the laptops, the smart phones, the tablets and they are refusing to take up the actual books to turn pages.
“We want them to be able to sit with a book and to be engrossed in reading and gaining knowledge through reading. This is what we are hoping to achieve,” Ms. Chadderton emphasized.