St Stephen's Primary Church School Library, Bath

Whilst the previous library at St Stephen’s Primary Church School was functional and loved by the pupils, it wasn’t the inspiring, inviting reading space Headteacher, Claire Taylor, wanted for their school community.

Due to its size, only small groups could visit the library at any one time and there wasn’t enough shelving to accommodate the school’s growing book collection.  As a result, the school decided to relocate the library to a new space near the main reception with the aim to bring it up-to-date with modern library furniture, flexible seating, cosy reading corners and more book capacity.

BookSpace designer, Michelle Tomlinson, visited St Stephen’s to discuss the project in more detail and carry out a full site survey to ensure everything would fit perfectly.  After the initial design consultation, Michelle created three different designs with itemised costings.

“From beginning to end BookSpace helped turn our vision into a reality.  Something we were particularly impressed by was how carefully they listened to our design brief and were able to achieve that within our budget” says Claire.

Michelle went for a fresh and modern yet relaxing colour scheme for the library.  The combination of fixed wall shelving alongside free-standing furniture and curved shelving helped to create different areas for children to explore and relax with a book.

To add the ‘wow’ factor, Michelle wanted to add a statement piece which would bring excitement to the reading experience but not make it feel like a playground.  The three initial library designs included a study house, amphitheatre seats and our popular Feature Walls.  Having reviewed the designs and quotation, the school decided to go with our third option with a few tweaks.  As a final touch, graphics were added to the Feature Wall in recognition of the school’s four core values of Love, Courage, Creativity and Joy.

Whilst we were on site taking lots of photos, we took the opportunity to have a chat with some of the pupils to find out what they had to say about their new school library.  Check out the video below to see their response.