Libraries for Primaries, co-founded by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) and Penguin Books, aims to ensure that every primary school in the UK has a library or dedicated reading space by 2028.
Thanks to funding of £1.8m from the Foyle Foundation, it is estimated that 300 primary schools across the UK will now be able to benefit from a new library or enhanced, dedicated reading space this year.
Jonathan Douglas CBE, CEO of the National Literacy Trust, said: "There are currently 1,900 primary schools in the UK that don’t have a dedicated library, and this is negatively impacting 750,000 children in some of our most disadvantaged communities. We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with The Foyle Foundation, a supporter of school libraries since 2009, and now as a lead Libraries for Primaries partner; enabling us to scale up at speed through the next phase, and provide a library for every primary school that needs one.”
David Hall, CEO of the Foyle Foundation said: “Building on the more than 2,000 state schools that the Foyle Foundation has supported to date, we are delighted to partner and combine forces with National Literacy Trust to fill a gap and support those most difficult to reach primary schools, which still do not have a school library.”
The Foyle Foundation has been supporting the arts, learning, community projects, schools and libraries for the past 25 years, and announced in January that it would make £23m worth of grants over the next two years as part of plans to complete its grant giving-programme and close in 2025.
For more information on Libraries for Primaries, click here.