Children and staff at Pocklington Junior School were bursting with excitement as they officially opened their new school library. The theme for the library, Sir Bob’s Castle, was voted for by the children when Headteacher, Kelly Foxton led on creating a new library space to help improve the joy of reading for all pupils.  

Phase one of the library renovation saw Hull street artist and painter, Maniuko, transform the room with a mural of a dragon in a castle. Building on the theme of placing children at the heart of the design, the mural was created based on a school-wide competition. The art is stunning and prompted the children and staff to develop the theme further, which is how Sir Bob himself came to be! Working with sculpture artist, Lee Threadgold from Animated Objects based in Scarborough, all children had the opportunity for hands on artistic expression through shaping, moulding and painting to bring the idea of their incredible knight to life.  

Pocklington Junior School is the most recent school to have benefited from the Trust’s Wonder Learning Space refurbishment programme. Children and staff worked with a local company, Playscheme, to design the library around Sir Bob and the castle’s dragon. The result of which is a beautifully crafted library space complete with an ornate chair, turret, reading nook and built in chess board.  

Kelly Foxton, Headteacher, said, “It has been an absolute pleasure to be part of the refurbishment of our school library. I am immensely proud of how our children have actively contributed to the design and launch of this wonderful new space. Reading is incredibly important to us at Pocklington Junior School; it is truly at the heart of our school and curriculum. 

We are deeply grateful to everyone who has worked with such passion and dedication to create this beautiful library. It is a space that will inspire a love of reading for years to come, and we are thrilled to see our children already embracing it with excitement and enthusiasm.” 

Chair of Governors, Sandra Burley, added, “I was very pleased to be at the opening of the new library at Pocklington Juniors today. It was a lovely opportunity to see the finalised project up and running. There was a buoyant atmosphere with the school librarians eager to explain their role and show the assembled governors and visitors around with an explanation of how the library catalogue works.   

The children are very excited and keen to share the library with the rest of the school. I believe this development will support our continued priority of making reading accessible, fun and build on our love of reading for everyone in the school.  

The design features some lovely touches suggested by the children such as using a portcullis design over the seating area and traditional arrow slits engraved along the battlement effect used for the bookshelves.   

Michael Carr, Special Projects Manager for Playscheme said, “It doesn’t seem five minutes since a group of children from Pocklington Juniors visited Playscheme to design their castle themed library. We are so excited we could include many of their ideas in the finished installation. Everyone at Playscheme is delighted with the outcome. However, most of all, we are delighted that the children and staff at Pocklington Juniors love it too!”  

Pupils taking on the role of librarians at the school welcomed visitors during the opening, explaining the various features within the library and demonstrating their love of books and reading. Poppy said, “I love the turret area, I could sit here and read all day.” Other children commented that there are many more books available, and they enjoy helping other children choose what to read.