News / Education
Library in a bus opens at Knowle West school
A school library with a difference has opened in Knowle West.
A converted red double bus packed with books is now parked permanently within the central courtyard of the Knowle DGE Learning Centre, a special school for students throughout the south of the city.
The Big Red Library Bus solves the problem of a lack of dedicated library space at the school, and is funded by Bristol City Council to help develop literacy and promote upcycling, becoming a creative solution to the school’s lack of extra building space.
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The bus holds books, magazines and journals, along with WiFi capacity for online reading. The walls feature images from classic children’s literature and the bus windows provide an open, light space for enjoying the texts.
Opening the library, Bristol mayor George Ferguson said: “I want great imagination in an economic fashion, this is both economic and inspiring.
“As a Learning City we are committed to improving opportunities for everyone to learn and I am confident that this library bus will help to change some lives by inspiring people to read and learn.”
Deputy headteacher Murrough McHugh was involved in all aspects of the project and is looking forward to the school’s future in literacy.
He said: “Now that we have the space to display literature, now that the kids have a space where they can access it and a space where they can do more independent research, we’re onwards and upwards with regards literacy and literary appreciation – which I think people don’t think of in relation to special schools.
“That’s where we want to go, we’re terribly ambitious on behalf of our young people and we get the grades to go with it.”
Read more: Books removed from Central Library