Official Launch of our new Reading Lodge
Friday 27th September saw the official launch of our new ‘Reading Lodge’ , which was opened by children’s author Kathryn White, attended by parents, staff and friends of children at the school. Ms White, who has written and published over thirty children’s books, then read to a group of children from the school which included the school’s librarians.
The Reading Lodge was funded by the school’s Parents and Friends Association (PFA), a group of parents, teachers, helpers and friends who, as volunteers, have been fundraising for the new building over the past few years. In addition to school events such as fairs, discos, non-uniform days and book sales, the PFA were able to reach their target through the support of ‘match giving’ from staff at Bridgwater’s Lloyds Bank and Halifax branches. In addition, a recent ‘Scarecrow Hunt’ organised and run by the West India House pub raised vital funds to equip the inside of the Hut.
Co-Chairs of the PFA, Jenny Ashworth and Alice Gordon said:
“This is a fantastic resource for our school, and we are so proud of all the PFA helpers, past and present, who have enabled us to fund it. We have had so much support from local businesses too – from donating prizes for our raffles, to lending us equipment for our events. This really has been a whole-community effort!”.
The Reading Lodge provides a discreet space in the school grounds where children can enjoy books during break times and share a class story with their teacher. It will also be a cosy and inviting environment for reading intervention. A comfortable space filled with books for all interests and abilities, the Reading Lodge will be enjoyed by children of all ages – from those at the Little Oaks Nursery, up to year six.
Deputy Head Teacher, Mrs Layton said
“We are absolutely delighted to be able to open this building to our children today. The children were very excited to meet a ‘real author’ and loved hearing Kathryn read to them. We are so grateful to our PFA for funding this and look forward to enjoying it for many years to come!”
We won!!!!!!
St Mary’s children’s parliament team went to Taunton this morning to present their case for reducing the litter problem in around the school premises. We went up against six other schools talking about topics as diverse as boosting kindness and improving community links, addressing a room full of judges including councillors, charity workers and Somerset Youth Parliament representatives. Lewis S was also a member of the pupils judging panel to make sure we all had our say in the results, too. After listening to all the teams, the guest judging team had a private discussion before their scores were added to the pupil scores. The runners up were then called to collect their prize, then we were announced as the winners! Team members had this to say:
Lewis: ‘It was a good experience- we were very excited when we won, it was interesting to see how other schools did it.’
Ruby: ‘this was a great opportunity and I would happily do it again.’
Boe: ‘this was a great experience to have children’s voices speak and share our ideas with other schools and it was good to build our confidence in public speaking.’
Unfortunately not the ones with chocolate chips.
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