Cotgrave Candleby Lane school create immersive and magical reading libraries for children

Cotgrave Candleby Lane School teachers have created magical Reading Libraries for children throughout their school, -transporting pupils into a world of wonder and imagination.

Alice Lilley is the English Subject Lead and Year 3/4 phase leader, and she said the rooms are designed to stimulate children’s imagination and encourage a love of reading. “We wanted to increase the profile of reading and promote reading for pleasure amongst our pupils. To do this, we designed age-related themes for our reading libraries.

“The children have responded very positively to the rooms, saying that it is a calm space and they have enjoyed spending as much time in there as possible! Moving forwards, we are looking to enhance these reading libraries further by sharing book reviews and recommendations from both adults and children.”

The rooms include a Gruffalo room for younger children, a snowy Narnia room, a Rain Forest and also a Harry Potter themed library.

Pupil Lily Bowen age 8 uses the Narnia Reading Library and said, “I think the room is very nice. I think it is calm and relaxing and very cosy. My favourite bit in the Narnia Reading Library is the sleigh because it’s nice to sit in there and read.” Tyler Jackson, age 8 agreed, “I think it’s comfortable to read in and my favourite bit is the chair next to the fire.”

Isla Chisholm, age 9, uses the Rain Forest Reading Library and said, “I love it! I like the theme of the rain forest and how cosy it feels in here. My favourite bit is the jaguar and I wish I could have a room at home like this! I like to read action and adventure books and I think it’s nice to have a separate reading room because its quieter than a classroom.”  Fraiser Cooper, age 10, said, “I also like the jaguar on the wall,” and fellow pupil Jamie Burgess, age 9, said, “I really like animals, so I like the rain forest room a lot.”

Kyla Wadi, age 10, uses the Harry Potter themed library and said, “I think the room is very nice, -its magical. I think the room is calming and a good place to read. I enjoy reading and I like fiction and action books best.” Charlie Brady age 10 said, “I think the room is amazing and I like all of it! It’s calm and magical and helps to make you feel like you are part of what you are reading, it helps your imagination. I really like fiction, history, and reading about the war. I think the reading rooms are a really good idea.”