A SCHOOL in north Swindon wants help to set up a lending library to ensure pupils still have access to books during the pandemic.

Greenmeadow Primary School in Pen Close is appealing for donations of children’s books for its 220 pupils during lockdown.

Head teacher Kate Mackinnon said: “It’s so important for children to develop that love of reading and especially reading for pleasure.

“With the lockdown and a lot of children learning at home the children have access to some online reading provision, but we also want to give them access to real books to encourage that love of reading, that love of a book and holding an actual book,” she said.

The books will be put in a shed at the front of the school for children to choose from.

“Reading is a fantastic way in which you can develop your knowledge of the world and what happens around you, but also reading for pleasure is so important,” said Mrs Mackinnon. “It allows you to relax, to go to a different place in the world, meet different people or go on an adventure.”

Donations of both fiction and non-fiction books suitable for primary school-aged children are welcome.

Mrs Mackinnon added: “Fiction comes in a whole variety of things – magazine, classic novels or some of the modern fiction. These are all things we’d be happy to share with our families.

“There are some children who very much like the structure and information that’s in non-fiction books. There are some children who have particular topics that they are really interested in. Dinosaurs is a prime example, or engineering. And these are the things which you can’t necessarily give pupils first-hand experience of in school.”

Returns will be put in a quarantine box before going back in the shed to ensure the library is Covid safe.

“This third lockdown has been a challenging situation,” added Mrs Mackinnon. “We’re very much aware that one solution is not going to work for every family and we want the library to complement and help parents with their children’s lockdown learning.”

Any donations can be left in the boxes outside the school’s front door or people can email admin@greenmeadow-pri.Swindon.sch.uk for information.