Children at a Camberwell primary school will benefit from a restocked and refurbished
library thanks to the work of a children’s book charity.
The Acorn Book Club charity ensures schools and children have unlimited access to
free, quality books and have decided to do this at Lyndhurst Primary School.
This comes in response to figures showing that in Britain, 800 libraries have closed
since 2010. Also, recent news stating that there has been a serious decline in books at
school libraries and that children are missing out on vital learning.
Emma Fox, Head of CSR & Sponsorship at The Acorn Group told South London Lines: “Clearly the statistics regarding library closures are extremely disappointing and concerning.
“A lack of investment from Local Authorities and wider Government mean that community libraries simply do not have the funding to continue opening. We have seen primary school libraries turned into classrooms, storage spaces, intervention rooms and most recently a Covid isolation room.
“Charities such as Acorn Book Club are committed to ensuring that children have access to a variety of interesting books and that they are encouraged to engender a lifelong love of reading in an engaging environment.”
Highlighting the effects the charity work has on children, Fox said: “Acorn Book Club has had a hugely positive impact on the local community. Over 35,000 books have been donated to local schools and children within the last three years (since our inception in 2018) and almost 10,000 children in south-east London now have access to books they wouldn’t have otherwise had. Our wider projects – refurbishing libraries and creating reading nooks etc – go further in encouraging children to enjoy reading. Where possible, we allocate charity funds to purchase current books celebrating diversity, to ensure all children feel they have been represented in the literature they’re reading.”
A video on their YouTube channel outlines how Acorn has changed the library space,
supplying an 80-inch television for interactive learning, new furnishings and many new
books.
Sandie Jones, a New York Times best-selling Author and Acorn Book Club trustee
said: “Acorn Book Club’s mission is simply to put as many books into children’s hands
as possible. But with this project at Lyndhurst Primary School, they have gone above
and beyond that.”
Maureen Bennett, the deputy head at the school said: “Working with Acorn Book
Club has been absolutely brilliant for us, if we were just given money, yes we would do
something with it. But it’s about a relationship, and we’ve built that relationship with the
book club now. The collaboration has really allowed us to feel a sense of pride.”
The deputy head also highlighted that at the primary school there was a diverse
population with children with special educational needs and many children from
different ethnic backgrounds.
With the new books the Acorn Book Club has provided, the deputy head said she felt that the
children would be able to come in and find a book that represented themselves and enabled
them to see themselves reflected.
