The children, parents and staff of Kildare Town Educate Together National School are celebrating this week as their new school library opens. The library was the brainchild of parents in the school who thought it would be interesting to create a library using upcycled materials.
Kildare Town ETNS is in its fifth year and it now occupies a new purpose built building on the Melitta Road, Kildare Town. The school was given a room for a library but no shelves or seating area.
As these necessities proved very expensive, some of the parents put their heads together to come up with an alternative – something 'different'.
The design was created by two parents in the school Anna Kadzik and Ania Necel-Kruppa. They drew up plans and drawings and consulted with an upcycling expert – Przemek Drusewicz.
Przemek, working with Recreate, sourced unwanted materials and turned them into library furniture that was fit for purpose. He used, amongst other things, ESB spools, crate boxes, pallets and wood from Irish Rail.
Says Principal Gerry Breslin:
'We now have an amazing library which the children love. There are places for the children to hide and read. We can help the children to read but learning to love reading is more difficult. This library definitely helps. All our children look forward to their library slot every week.'
