Miss Hall and Miss Cribbens with some of the new books.
Stillness lost many things in the fire, but one of the largest losses was our entire library, which held not only fantastic research and information resources, such as topic books for all subjects across all the year groups, but the school's entire guided reading library and several priceless signed copies of books. Also, we lost four classrooms-worth of 'book corner' books - a real blow to all of year 4 and one year 5 class. This meant sharing out the books we had left in the remaining classrooms, leaving a very small selection of books for pupils to read at school and at home.
The expense of re-building a school library (particularly prior to insurance payouts!) has not gone unnoticed. It simply would not be possible for the school to fund a new library immediately. Miss Cribbens and I launched 'The Great Book Appeal' and began collecting new books to kick start the library's new collection. Each pupil who brought in a new book would have a commemorative dedication placed inside the book cover thanking them for their generous donation to help rebuild the school library. Pupils also began bringing in used books in excellent condition which were handed out to year groups to replenish the depleted classroom book corners.
After losing all their books, 5G wrote letters to one of their favourite authors, Michael Morpurgo. Mr. Grocock hoped to get a quick email reply at best - but nothing could prepare the Stillness pupils and staff for what happened next…
First, Mr. Morpurgo rang the school and spoke with Mrs. Kennedy, sending his sincerest condolences about the loss of our school building. He explained that he was in the middle of writing a new book and was quite pressed for time, but he would see what he could do. He promised to send a note to 5G to thank them for their letters, and said he would send 20 books from his publisher. Shortly after, a postcard arrived for 5G from Mr. Morpurgo himself! He wished the children well, and advised them to read his novel
I Believe in Unicorns. I promptly lent the copy that was in my book corner to 5G and they are already reading it.
What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. As promised, a day later a box of books arrived with a note, telling us that the books were courtesy of Mr. Morpurgo. The same day, another box of books arrived, but from a different publisher. Then another. And another! Every time Mrs. Kennedy told me there were more books, I thought she was joking.... but no! As of November 17th, there have been no less than a dozen boxes of books delivered to our school. Each box was addressed to the head teacher, and often contained a note expressing sympathy for the loss of our library and with a positive message to cheer us on as we rebuilt our new library. What's this? An entire Harry Potter collection? Oooh, what's inside here? Three complete
Horrible History sets? Looky here, a brand new
Spiderwick Chronicles set? Miss Cribbens and I could not keep up with the thank you letters, labels or re-stocking of the brand new library shelves that are lining the hall. We couldn't figure out where all the books were coming from... until the mystery was solved when one publisher put in a note saying 'as per Michael Morpurgo's request via email'.
The wonderful Mr. Morpurgo had sent our letter by email to every publisher he knew - and they were responding with boxes brimming with brand-new books for the pupils of Stillness Junior School!
The generosity of these publishers must be acknowledged, and with that, all of Stillness Junior School pupils and staff would love to send a huge THANK YOU to the following... Egmont Books, Bloomsbury Publishing, Andersen Press, Walker Books, Bookpoint, Macmillan Publishing, Scholastic, QED, Penguin Books, and the list is still growing!
That being said... Let's not stop here!! More books are needed, particularly books for our Language Library and lower-ability reading books.
There are not words to express how the positive response has buoyed our spirits and made us smile.... Keep up that Stillness Spirit!
Emily Hall
Yr 3 Teacher.
