Oakwood State School, Bundaberg, Qld – Community Street Library

The Oakwood State School – Community Street Library was a project initiated through our onsite Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) service. Our OSHC is a Parent’s and Citizen’s (P&C) managed childcare service for local families offering before school care, after school care and vacation care.
Our P&C approved the project at a committee meeting and then generously funded the purchase of our Street Library. The OSHC staff and children donated paint, an upcycled door handle and the first books to fill our street library! The first group to use our street library was a group of vacation care children. They were just thrilled to choose a book for themselves or one for someone else in their family. Some children picked books to give to their father’s as a Father’s Day gift!
Our school community encourages donations of books suitable for all ages as we have toddler siblings of our students right through to grandparents visiting the school on a daily basis. It’s very exciting to hear children chatting about their favourite books and authors. In a sense it’s created a conversation starter for people entering our school grounds, due to the street library being located right at the main entrance to the school on a busy road. We have even seen cars pulling over on the weekend to donate books. We hope the simple joy and inspiration that our project gives our community can be enjoyed for many years to come! Our project is a legacy to our community minded OSHC and P&C that believe wholeheartedly in the benefits of reading for all ages! 🙂