An estate agency group is doing something a little unusual for its community this summer – it is providing a local primary school with a complete, new library.
The Acorn Group, with offices in Kent and south London, is using the six-week summer holiday break for a ‘DIY SOS’.
A team has descended on St Saviour’s, in Lewisham, to convert and fully equip a room in the school into a completely new facility.
The project began when Acorn CEO Rob Sargent met the school chair of governors, Jo Chandler, who mentioned that despite an excellent Ofsted report, the school’s teachers and governors were keen to further inspire their children’s desire to read and enjoy the experience.
The school’s library facility was dated and in need of upgrading, but there was no funding to develop and improve the existing space within the school’s current budget, although Chandler had set up a fundraising campaign.
Sargent visited the school and was impressed by how polite and happy each child seemed – and so the idea of the Acorn Group creating a new library was born.
The facility, designed to inspire children to get reading, will be a bright and vibrant space with a study room for learning in small groups.
Both staff and children are all having input into the décor and design.
In the run-up to its official opening in September, the Acorn Group has launched a campaign called ‘Books for St Saviours’ to help stock the new library, inviting their staff and the public to drop used children’s books into any of their offices.
Sandie Jones (Sargent’s wife) author of summer smash hit psychological thriller The Other Woman (her debut novel) is also supporting the project.
As well as giving new books to St Saviours, she has coerced her publishers Pan McMillan to donate further reading books from their children’s portfolio.
As a direct result of this project, Acorn has made a conscious decision to stop sponsoring one-off summer fayre type events, and instead invest time and money into long-term projects that will make a difference to local schools and charities.
Comments (2)
Upon reading the headline, I wrongly assumed this was going to be a story about Andrews! Good on Acorn.
Well done and a great feel good story. This will be much more enduring for all as there is a legacy. Agents who sponsor little events so they can put boards in an area should take note. If you personally buy in, the rewards will be more genuine. Organisations really like that and in the build up you will get to know many more people, rather than a logo in a programme #feelgood