CHILDREN at Bromley Heath Infant School now have a “calm and inviting environment” to read in after a revamp of the school’s library.
The project to refurbish the library at the school in Quaker’s Road took about a year from start to finish.
The library had new carpets and paint over the summer and new books, signage and indexing were completed in time for the start of the new term in January.
Staff say the previous incarnation of the library was “tired”, with old furniture and books.
The revamped “bright” space has been divided into two.
One area is a ‘Fred room’, named after the frog the school uses to help children learn phonics and used for teaching, while the other is a separate library with a woodland theme, reached by passing through an arch.
The new library was officially opened in January by the school’s former chair of governors, Shelley Humphries, who served in the role for ten years and returned to cut a red ribbon with the help of school mascot Bromley Bear.
Head teacher Abigail Perry-Hodge said: “Parents and children were all very impressed with the new and improved layout and design.
“As one year two child said, ‘the woodland theme is fantastic’.
“All agreed that it would be a wonderful place to ‘pick, read and put away’ in a calm and inviting environment.
“The school is very proud of the new space, where children will be able to select their own reading choices, read for pleasure and research topics.
“I can’t wait to see children using and enjoying the space.”
Staff looked at other schools’ libraries, sourced designs and produced some of their own before the final plans were put into action.
Mrs Perry-Hodge said: “Early years Foundation Stage lead Miss Blackburn and the team worked hard to sort existing and order new books, also creating a brilliant signing and indexing system, which can be used by even the smallest children independently.”