Tipperary school wins Robert Dunbar memorial library worth €8,000

Children’s Books Ireland has selected Gortnahoe National School as one of four winners of a Robert Dunbar Memorial Library, a school library worth €8000.

They will be launching the library this Thursday at 1pm at the school with the school’s new Patron of Reading, author Paula Leyden.

The libaries are named in memory of a former patron and long-time friend of the organisation. The libraries offered in his name by Children's Books Ireland, like Robert's life and career, span the whole island, open as they are to all schools from both jurisdictions.

The winners are:

PRIMARY: 

Gortnahoe National School, Tipperary with Paula Leyden as Patron of Reading

St Paul’s Nursery and Primary School, Derry with Myra Zepf as Patron of Reading

SECONDARY:      

St Genevieve's High School, Belfast with Sheena Wilkinson as Patron of Reading

St Raphaela’s Secondary School, Dubin with Dave Rudden as Patron of Reading

Each school will receive a library worth almost €8,000, plus a Patron of Reading, training on use of the library, CBI resources and print material to guide students in their future reading worth €40,000 combined.

Director of Children’s Books Ireland, Elaina Ryan, said, ‘In their applications for the Robert Dunbar Memorial Libraries, many schools told us of their needs in relation to reading, ranging from keeping good quality, modern stock in their libraries to catering for students with special education needs or who have English as an additional language.

We chose schools where there was a clear need for the books, where there was some culture of reading already present in the school and where we felt the libraries would have a significant impact on the students. With the help of publishers, the libraries have grown exponentially this year, and we are excited to get them into the hands of young people all over the island of Ireland in the coming weeks.’

Paula Leyden said –  ‘I am delighted that Gortnahoe National School has been selected as one of the winners of this wonderful tribute to the inimitable Robert Dunbar. I hope my presence there will add to the wonderful work already being done in the school by a young and enthusiastic group of teachers. Most of all, I am looking forward to meeting the children. I know that this award will make a difference to their lives, and I feel lucky to be a part of that.

Many schools in Ireland are struggling to meet their students’ needs in relation to reading materials. Children’s Books Ireland’s Robert Dunbar Memorial Libraries project attempts to address this critical issue by donating four libraries to schools island-wide. Over two years, CBI has received close to four hundred applications and has learned of an overwhelming need for books in schools. Many libraries are stocked with dated, tatty, unsuitable books and some newly-built schools with dedicated library spaces have no books on their shelves. In numerous schools, teachers buy books with their own money, and cannot cater to the needs of students who use English as an additional language or who have learning difficulties.

Research has shown that reading for pleasure improves mental well-being, increases vocabulary, builds literacy and numeracy skills and is the strongest indicator of success at school and beyond. A lack of school libraries hits areas of socio-economic deprivation hardest – these are the children that we should be endeavouring not to leave behind.  A lack of school libraries is also particularly problematic for schools in rural areas, whose pupils will have more limited access to public libraries. As part of a larger school library campaign, CBI have also launched a survey asking schools in the Republic of Ireland to tell them what the provision for books is like in their schools –