or call 020 7404 3400
or call 020 7404 3400
Or call 020 7404 3400
The random prize draw included books, furniture and literacy Wall Art – all worth £20,000. Promote Your School donated the prize as part of our annual Inspiring Libraries competition.
Sadly, one in eight UK Primary Schools doesn’t have a dedicated library. And this figure drops further in disadvantaged areas. But the benefits of reading for pleasure in children are clearer than ever. In fact, children who read for pleasure are proven to be happier, healthier – and they achieve better learning outcomes too.
So, as an education design agency, we want to try and change this. We launched our Inspiring Libraries competition a couple of years ago and it runs at the same time each year. It’s completely free for schools to enter and we always choose the winner at random.
Now, this is the best part – we get to announce this year’s winning school, and reveal their beautiful new library…
Dorothy Barley Infant School won this year’s Inspiring Libraries Competition! The school is based in Dagenham, Essex.
They offer a happy, secure and intellectually stimulating environment to young learners. And as an Infant and Nursery School, they also provide solid foundations for lifelong learning.
The school’s most recent Ofsted report highlights reading as a particular area of strength. Their report states; “The school places a high priority on enabling pupils to secure early reading skills. Well trained staff teach phonics effectively. Staff use their checks to ensure that pupils read books, which are well matched to their phonics knowledge.”
So, we were delighted to extend this focus on reading by awarding the prize of books, furniture and bespoke literacy Wall Art for the school library.
Back in 2021, we worked with BookTrust and Cressida Cowell on their Life-changing libraries project. At that time, Cressida was the Waterstones Children’s Laureate. And her mission was to reduce literacy inequality across the UK. She headed up the project, which selected six schools in the UK to receive a ‘gold standard’ library. Cressida and BookTrust selected the schools based on the volume of pupils on pupil premium and free school meals.
We at Promote Your School donated six bespoke literacy Wall Art projects – one for each library.
Once all the libraries were complete, each school reported back on the impact it had made. And the results were staggering. Every school reported that their library had impacted the whole school culture – with regard to reading, behaviour and wellbeing.
One school explained; “It’s created a reading culture around the whole school. I didn’t think it’d have as big an impact and snowball so much. I had high expectations, but it has definitely exceeded them.” – English Leader, Saviour CofE Primary
A pupil described the wider impact their new school library had. They said; “Before the library was here, the books weren’t interesting to me, and now reading makes me feel like everyone is wanted in the world.” Pupil, Griffin Primary School
“I couldn’t put [the impact] into words. It’s changed the feeling of the school, the attitudes of children and staff. It has changed everything.” – English Lead
We were so pleased to support the Life-changing libraries project and to see the impact a library can have on the whole school. So, we decided to launch our own annual competition to give schools the chance to win a fully kitted out library.
Inspiring Libraries is open to all UK schools. It’s free and easy to enter and schools don’t need a dedicated library to be elibigle to win. Any space can be used as a library, so we always encourage schools to enter as we can help them designate an area to serve as a school library – we’ll always find a space somewhere!
The Wall Art project is completely bespoke, so it’s tailored to the winning school.
This year’s winner, Dorothy Barley certainly embraced their new library with open arms. We worked closely with Head of School and Literacy Lead, Samantha O’Hara and the team to bring the project to life.
We were delighted to win this year’s Inspiring Libraries Competition from Promote Your School, and are thrilled with our new school library! The woodland Wall Art has completely transformed the space and created a calm and welcoming environment for pupils. We were also pleased to receive a bundle of books and comfortable seating to make the library even more enticing to pupils. Reading is such an important part of our school culture and we’re confident that our new library will encourage pupils to spend more time reading for pleasure and discovering all the wonderful books we have on offer.
One of the key components of the Inspiring Libraries prize was the Wall Art project. It’s a really critical puzzle piece that brings the whole space together.
Initially, we visited Dorothy Barley Infant School to discuss their prize, walk around the existing library and begin creating a design brief for the space. The school were keen to create a really calm and welcoming area that pupils would want to use. So we discussed using nature as a backdrop, which is a popular choice for many of the schools we work with.
Bringing nature into the library creates a calm and serene ambience. It allows pupils to regulate and provides a sense of escapism from the rest of the school building.
Our design team created a magical woodland scene for the artwork. It was important to include details that would spark pupils’ imagination and interest, without overwhelming or overstimulating them. The Wall Art also needed to blend into the space seamlessly, so it didn’t distract pupils from their reading.
The woodland Wall Art design has a really immersive effect. The moment pupils step into the library, they’re transported to a magical place. And this was exactly our intention!
The library now offers comfortable, colourful seating, well organised book shelves and even some indoor plants to complete the look. After we’d completed the project, we received a lovely email from Head of School saying, “Our pupils have been loving their new library over the past few weeks!”
It was so endearing to hear that the library had made an impact straight away. And we’ll continue to keep in touch with the team at Dorothy Barley to hear how pupils use the space and feel its impact over time.
We’ll share details of next year’s Inspiring Libraries Competition soon!
Keep your eyes on our blog and social media channels for news of the launch. And don’t forget, it’s completely free of charge to enter.
YOU could be our next winner and receive a beautiful, fully kitted out library worth £20,000.
We’ll visit your school to understand your goals, explain our process and provide you with a no-obligation quote.
