In early 2019, School Business Manager, Sally-Anne Male, contacted the Acorn Book Club to see if they could help provide their pupils with a space where they could read for pleasure. With school funding ever declining, Sally-Anne was delighted when the ABC said they would not only provide the books, but they would also fund the cabin and all of its internal furnishings. After putting out a call for books, our Plumstead and Woolwich offices were inundated with donations from lots of local people who wanted to help! ‘None of our projects would be possible without the generosity of the public and our clients. We are blown away by how many donations we receive.’ said CSR Manager, Emma Fox.
Throughout their first day back at school, surrounded by books and fairy lights, each class was told magical tales by storyteller Julia Gwynne - Bluebeard, The Enormous Turnip and Vasalisa the Beautiful to name a few! When the end of school bell rang, parents were invited to join teachers and pupils in the Reading Nook and playground, where they enjoyed refreshments, sat down with an assortment of books and took part in the ABC Reading Challenge. One young pupil told James Clow, Branch Manager at both our Plumstead and Woolwich offices ‘The Reading Nook is going to make school ten times better!’.
Head of School, Aimi Vdovin, said ‘This will completely transform the way we read at Rockliffe. We’ll be using it for focused reading groups, one-to-one sessions and at lunchtimes. It’s incredible, we’re so grateful to everyone involved.’
The Acorn Book Club are thrilled to have provided over 1,000 wonderful books generously donated by the public to Rockliffe Manor. They hope the access to books will encourage more children to read for pleasure, and urge anyone with spare books to donate, to drop them in to their local Acorn Group office.