Porthcawl Library and Porthcawl Comprehensive School have joined forces to reach reluctant readers and busy students with a supply of free books. Since January, the town’s library has been providing a selection of teenage fiction for a pop-up library at the school. Initially, the pop-library was aimed at Year 7 pupils but there are plans to offer the service to other year groups too.
Porthcawl Comprehensive School’s Steve Howells said: “As the Literacy Coordinator, I strongly advocate for the close collaboration between our school and the library. A library should be the heart and soul of any town; reading itself offers children and adults alike the opportunity to access a boundless wealth of imagination, history and experience.
“With the library’s strong community links and the close proximity to the school, it is clear that our students can benefit from the immense wealth of resources and knowledge the library has. In the words of the Manic Street Preachers, ‘libraries gave us power’ and, with this in mind, I firmly believe that this partnership will enrich our students’ learning and empower them to become lifelong learners.”
Porthcawl Comprehensive has appointed Library Ambassadors for the school: pupils Casper and Chloe from Year 7, who are thoroughly enjoying the role.
Casper said: “I think that reading tends to transport your mind to a different place and it helps you to overcome problems and imagine a different world where things are better whilst simultaneously improving your mind and helping the world”.
Chloe said: “The Soul Hunter was really enjoyable and had lots of twists and jump-scares – a good guy could turn into a villain or vice versa! The second book I’ve taken from the library is called Empress and Aniya: it’s really relatable and I’m looking forward to reading more. I think libraries are important because when it comes to books, you may not like the book – being able to return a book at any time is really comforting as you know you haven’t thrown your money away!”
Karen Wyatt, Porthcawl Library’s Library Assistant added: “As a fairly new Library Assistant and an avid reader, it felt frustrating to see so many incredible teenage fiction books sat on a shelf, with so few issues. The pop-up library idea evolved out of a wish to widen the access to our books for young people”.
