Donation Received from The Siobhan Dowd Trust

Students at the school who do not speak English as their first language can now study ‘Hamlet’, ‘Of Mice and Men’, ‘A Christmas Carol’ and other set texts in their mother tongue.

There are also books to read for enjoyment – the Harry Potter books, ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and any others available for leisure reading.

The Siobhan Dowd Trust exists to fund any person or groups that:

• Take stories to children and young people without stories;
• Bring the joy of reading and books to children and young people deprived of access to books and of the opportunity to read;
• Fund and support disadvantaged young readers where there is no funding or support. In accordance with Siobhan’s wishes, our funding process is very open, flexible, and we hope, simple.

Deborah Gibbons, the School’s Librarian observed that some students were struggling to access set texts and being limited in their choice of leisure reading by their lack of English vocabulary.

To better assist the students with their learning she applied to the Trust and, though they hadn’t received bids like this before, they were open to the request and supplied funds for a good starter-collection.

The books have been added to Library stock and several have been borrowed. The collection will be expanded when possible.