New library for Hunstanton Primary

Hunstanton’s Mayor Michael Ruston was on hand to cut the ribbon in the new library at the town’s primary school this morning.

Leading the project to create a library for the one hundred and sixty-nine pupils at the school was Deputy Head Sarah Jones who is also the Head of English at the school. Sarah said: “Reading underpins everything we do and it is important to not only encourage all our children to read, and read well, but to enjoy books.

“The new library is spacious and situated in the heart of the school and it is a focal point for all the children to engage with.”

Prior to the installation the adjoining classrooms were enlarged and now each classroom has a book corner, and classes are encouraged take books from the library into the classrooms.

Specialist children’s book sellers the Norfolk Children’s Book Centre (NCBC) were called in to assess the existing stock of books and supply new titles. Their team is made up of former teachers and headteachers, librarians and book enthusiasts and they source books from over seventy publishers.

“Cataloguing the stock and arranging the books was three full days work, and we couldn’t have done it without Chris Tye from the NCBC,” said Sarah.

Financing for the project came from the Hunstanton Charity Shop £2000, Hunstanton and District Ladies Circle £250 and a community grant from Tesco.

Centre in yellow jumper Headteacher Jo Sullivan with (back row from left) Deputy Head Sarah Jones, Katherine Hollin, Sue Jones (Hunstnton Charity Shop), Mayor Michael Ruston, Chris Tye (NCBC), Sandie O’Donnell (Hunstanton Charity Shop) and (front row) some of the class librarians.

Some of the school’s class librarians joined the Mayor, staff and sponsors at the opening ceremony after assembly on 18th.

Hunstanton Charity Shop’s Angela Green said: “We are so happy that we were able to support the new library for the school, when I approached the volunteers with the idea of supporting they were more than happy to do this we all felt that it's very important for children to have access to books, and we hope that the new library will bring lots of joy to all the children at the school now and children who will attend the school in years to come.

As a local charity shop we like to support local projects; the shop is well supported by all the people in the Hunstanton and it is lovely to be able to give some of that support back to the community.

“It's a pleasure to be part of such a lovely idea that will bring lots of happiness to many.

“This is the second project at the school that we have supported over the years and we hope that we are able to continue supporting them for many years to come with other projects that they have on the horizon.

“We are always looking for donations that help us raise funds that we then can then redisperse to good causes; we are also looking for new volunteers to come and help in the shop whether this is for a few hours or a day if anyone is interested please pop into the shop and have a have a chat with us or contact us through our Facebook page Hunstanton charity shop.”

Sarah Jones added: “The library means a lot to us all and we are so grateful to everyone who has contributed to the project and enabled us to realise something very special for the whole school community.

“Plus, our Year 3 classroom assistant Katherine Hollin has always dreamed of being a librarian and now the school has made that dream come true!”