This term, Durrington students have once again demonstrated their kindness and community spirit through our ‘Share a Story’ initiative which forms part of our wider Get Durrington Reading campaign.
The project, which has been led by our Senior Student Leadership Team, encouraged students across all year groups to donate their much-loved children’s books to help local primary schools and charities. The goal was to share the joy of reading with young people aged 4–12 who may not have books of their own. We asked students to bring these in and make towers in their form groups, with a competition for who could build the tallest tower!
The response from our school community has been incredible, with some form groups accumulating towers almost as tall as the ceiling! Thanks to the generosity of students, staff, and families, we have collected a total of 5190 books. From classic picture books to exciting chapter books, these donations will now be passed on to local schools and community organisations, where they will inspire new readers for years to come and gift the joy of reading to those who may not otherwise have access to books.
This initiative comes at an exciting time for us at Durrington, as we are in the midst of our ‘Get Durrington Reading’ campaign, which is endeavouring to build confidence, ability, and above all, a lifelong love of reading in our students. Reading doesn’t just improve vocabulary and academic success, it opens doors to imagination, empathy, and new worlds of possibility. By passing on their books, Durrington students are helping to ensure that more children can experience that same magic.
Our school librarian Mrs DaCosta and Head of English Mr Tharby, who is leading on our reading project, said the following: “The students of Durrington High School understand the importance of reading for every child. We are building a strong reading culture that they are enthusiastically embracing. I am thrilled with how hard they have worked with this challenge, to gather books for Worthing’s younger community.”
Our Share a Story project has also been a brilliant opportunity for students to embody our school values of KAPP (Kindness, Aspiration, Perseverance, and Pride). Students have shown kindness through their selfless donations, aspiration by supporting others to learn, perseverance by helping to promote the challenge, collect and deliver the books, and pride in being part of a school that makes a difference in our community.
As Share a Story comes to a close, we would like to thank everyone who contributed. Whether you gave one book or twenty, your generosity has helped spread a love of reading far beyond our school gates and this makes us really proud to be part of the Durrington High School community.
Nethini Gunasena – Senior Student Leadership Team member
Miss Lamper – Teacher of English
