October Books Trip
Our Reading Ambassadors had a fabulous trip to October Books, our local independent bookshop.
The purpose of the trip was twofold - firstly, for our pupils to talk to bookshop owners, find out how a book shop runs and to ask questions, so that they can take this knowledge and learning back to our school library. Secondly, October Books were keen to learn from our children about their interests in reading, their thoughts about the children's area in the bookshop, and the future of children's reading!
We completed many activities that the bookshop had carefully prepared for us - including: how to use the computer to identify and locate stock, how to inform a customer about stock levels and ordering books, about the different areas of the shop and why they had been laid out in that way and about the role of the shopkeeper and their duties before opening and closing.
We all discussed the benefits of shopping in a bookshop as opposed to ordering online, such as contributing to our local economy, building relationships in the community, ability to browse and have choice, to 'try before you buy', as well as the impact on our carbon footprint. Pupils talked about their desire to be 'architects of a better world' and how bookshops impact upon this - they loved the ecology section of the shop!
Children then started to write a poem about 'A World Without Bookshops', which we will finish back at school - they had some very sensitive, insightful and moving thoughts about this topic. The children discussed their ideas and feedback about the children's area of the bookshop, including recommendations that they would like to see stocked. The children realised that our library runs in a very similar way to an independent book shop, unlike a commercial book store, in that we are in charge of what we stock and how we present it!
Finally - the children unlocked the safe (as the bookshop used to be a bank!) and revealed some chocolate coins for us to take home! Thank you to Clare and Suzanne for a wonderful experience - we had a brilliant time and learned a great deal!
