The School Library
Here in Scoil Pádraig Naofa we have a very rich tradition of reading and engaging with books. To support this ethos we have developed a state of the art, fully functional, well stocked whole school library. All members of the school community are encouraged to use the library and to explore and enjoy the large and varied collection available.
As a staff we are very mindful of the importance of encouraging the use of our school library and of the benefits to our pupils of reading. We have noted among those benefits the development of empathy, stress reduction, increased communication skills, enhanced literacy skills , a desire to expand one’s overall knowledge and an enhanced sense of curiosity and wonder.
We intentionally kept the space sparse, the children sitting on bean bags and enjoying the rich texture of the floor carpet while reading.
Each year we celebrate World Book Day. As part of our World Book Day celebrations pupils are encouraged to dress-up as a book character, write stories, produce illustrations. Local, national and international authors are invited into the school, many of whom read their own works to the pupils.
All pupils revise the conventions of a book and are encouraged to use this language when reading and engaging with a wide and varied range of reading material in our school.
Finally, each pupil is afforded the opportunity to spend a day in our local library in Ballybane during Book Week.
The words of Jhumpa Lahiri sum up the value of books –
“Books allow you to travel the World without moving your feet”.