Local author visits William Morris to open new library

Pupils and parents at William Morris School in Banbury had a day to remember recently when local children’s author Lawrence Prestidge opened their brand new learning facility, the William Morris Prestidge Library.

The scheme was the idea of executive head teacher Julie Hiddleston, who joined William Morris last summer, when the school library consisted of a few shelves in a corridor.

Since then, the school has promoted reading as an enjoyable activity, and staff and pupils have created a specially designated space in the school’s main building as a library space, moving all the existing books, acquiring new ones and establishing a proper lending system. Inviting pupils’ families and having the author of ‘Rolo’ and
‘Terror at the Sweet Shop’ visit the school to open it was the culmination of many months of hard work.

​“So many people, particularly our Year Six pupils and English leader Mrs Martin, have put in so much effort to make the library a success that having an event like this to open it was wonderful,” explained Ms Hiddleston.

“We had a book stall, which did a roaring trade, Year Six pupils were reading to the youngsters and Lawrence Prestidge, our guest of honour, read a chapter of his book to each class.  The children and parents were all so enthusiastic and on board, it was lovely to see that the importance of the enjoyment of reading was really evident.”
The increased emphasis on literacy has had a spectacular impact at William Morris, which since Spring 2016 has been a member of the Surrey-based GLF Schools multi-academy trust.

“We have done a lot of work on the phonics and decoding – core reading skills - and the results have been amazing, with some children making 10 months of progress in just three months,” added Ms Hiddleston.

“The children and their parents have been hugely enthusiastic and our staff have worked extremely hard, so now we are really promoting the fun that can be had from books. Having a day like this to launch a facility like this can only help us do that.”