A Literacy Programme to encourage reading in the Primary Schools has been launched this month (November) by the Montserrat Public Library.
The announcement was made by Senior Clerical Officer at the Public Library, Fiona Meade during a ‘Government In Focus’ GIU interview, prior to the launch.
While explaining the initiative, Meade said, “We are trying to get the Schools to encourage reading among the children…we are targeting the Look Out Primary School in this semester, so we have sent out some registration forms.” She further explained that once the registration forms are received, then the staff at the library will check their system and see who is registered. Those who are not registered, will be entered into the Library’s system.
Following this, staff will go to the school with books for the children to borrow. In an effort to ensure the students have actually read the books, the Library staff will give the students a note sheet on which they will be required to make notes about the book they have read.
The other two Primary Schools – Brades and St. Augustine, will be targeted next semester.
In addition to the ‘Literacy Initiative’, the Library plans to start a ‘Saturday Club for Children’, however no start date for this has been announced. Other planned initiatives include, restarting the ‘Homework Help Class’ which was first introduced in 2018. The staff at the Library are asking volunteers to assist with this class. Interested persons should call 491-4706.
The Library is also conducting an internal drive in the hopes of increasing the library’s membership. Under this drive, persons who access services at the Library will be encouraged to regularly borrow books.