Whilst many people rise to the sound of their alarms, either on clocks or mobile phones, my wife and I have our own wake-up call in the form of our two-year-old daughter. The repeated yelps of ‘Dadda’ or ‘Mamma’ at around 6 in the morning prompt a weary reaction. One of us gingerly pulls back the covers and trudges next door to the inevitable welcome of ‘I want books’. The unfortunate parent is then left to correct her request until we are satisfied with her response - ‘I would like books, please’ - and then duly obliges, providing a stack of tomes for her to sift through, where she marvels at the pictures in return for a priceless 30 more minutes in bed for mum and dad.
She has several favourites, among them three written by Julia Donaldson: ‘The Gruffalo’ - until the Gruffalo actually appears because she is scared of it; ‘What the Ladybird heard’ - which also provides an opportunity to improve her number skills by counting the glittery ladybird on each page; and ‘Stick Man’ - in which she has a strange habit of proclaiming ‘that’s my uncle’ every time she sees Stick Man’s Stick Lady Love. We’ve tried, with some success, to instill an appreciation of books in Molly from a very early age, and it brings us a great deal of joy to see her so engaged.
And so, amongst the deluge of depressing stories in the news of late, I was pleased to see one rare glimmer of positivity. An article in the Guardian entitled ‘Book Sales defy pandemic to hit eight-year high’ gave the impression that some good was coming from the lockdown we are all enduring at the moment.
The benefits of reading are undeniable: improved focus and concentration; heightened skills in writing and analytical thinking; increased knowledge, vocabulary and memory improvement; and means of finding some tranquility to enable stress reduction.
Alongside our creation of a resource hub within the website during the lockdown, we are also taking the opportunity to refurbish some of the facilities with the College. Finishing touches of the painting of the Reading Room are to be completed this weekend, and we are arranging the deployment of some tremendous photography on the interior walls, which, I’m sure, will inspire students when they first catch a glimpse of them upon their return. They depict life at the College very effectively - engaged and happy young adults, embracing the opportunity to learn within a supportive environment. Another exciting initiative taking place while we are bereft of the presence of the majority of students is in the emergence of a new library. It won’t quite be the Brooks Hatlen Memorial Library in the Shawshank Redemption, but the intention is that it will provide a similar purpose.
Students must feel a touch like Shawshank inmate Andy Dufresne at the moment, wrongly imprisoned, facing the same four walls and monotonous days, with no clear indication of when it will all end. He triumphed eventually, avoiding a brutal attack by bewildering dangerous bullies through his knowledge of serious brain trauma, garnered from books; and using his intellect to defraud the warden of vast sums of money, utilised when he made it out. Of course, it helped that he was able to use a giant poster to cover the hole in the wall he was using to carry out his heroic escape from prison.
The creation of the library for Dufresne is symbolic in the film. It indicates his perseverance, and dedication to survive. Above all, it shows that he still maintains hope. Books themselves are crucial in that they provide a window for the imagination which provides that hope: hope for a different and better future; hope for new experiences; hope for growth in a time when that seems difficult. As Dufresne states in the movie, "Hope is a good thing, may be the best of the things. And a good thing never dies."
To this end, the Vice Principal has been working hard with staff, students and outside agencies to secure book donations which will fill the shelves of the library and allow the College Reading Room to truly live up to its name and I’m pleased to say that I’ve donated some books for this cause. Many of these will feature brief messages from staff or students explaining why the books mean so much to them, and they’ll be situated in different sections of the library offering recommendations of texts to read for a variety of purposes - for inspiration, for practical advice or just to unwind and lose yourself in a good story.
Since my daughter came along, I’ve found time for reading far harder to come by, but that hasn’t stopped me doing so where I can. Reading for me is part of a perpetual exploration for ideas in the search for self-improvement at work, at home or in personal development and I often find that the more I read, the more I’m prompted to think, and the more I come up with potential solutions to issues which need to be addressed.
These are the skills which we try to embed within the students who come here: a positive and hopeful dedication to advancement, both academic and personal; and the resilience to problem solve where challenges arise.
We understand fully that reading is a key part of developing these skills.