Pictures: Northside schools launch reading project

PUPILS and staff from three schools in Farranree have launched their annual ‘One Book, One Community’ reading project with this year’s book touching on themes of friendship, kindness and inclusivity.

The project, effectively a community wide book club, is a much-anticipated annual event.

“It’s a project that has been running in our community here in Farranree for about the last 15 years.

“It’s a project that promotes literacy in the school, the family, and the community.

“There are three schools involved in this particular project.

“There’s ourselves, Scoil Aiséirí Chríost, there’s Scoil Íosagáin, our boys school next door – fourth classes in both the primary schools and also First Years in Nano Nagle College,” home school community liaison at Scoil Aiséirí Chríost, Tara O’Sullivan, told The Echo.

“We also have community involvement in the project, so all of the agencies that are involved with our school are invited to participate in the launch, finale and some of the events that go along with it as well.” 

A launch event for this year’s ‘One Book, One Community’ project was held at Scoil Aiséirí Chríost in recent days.

This year’s chosen book is The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Qatara Raúf, which Ms O’Sullivan said explores a range of universal themes including friendship, kindness and inclusivity.

“The book is about a Syrian refugee who comes to an English classroom and the challenges that that boy faces to integrate into the society that he has had to flee to, but what’s really lovely about the book is that it is the children who really are the heroes in the story.

“They are a little group of children who have very conflicting messages I suppose about the status of refugees in our society, but these children really take on the idea of integrating and including this boy.

“So, it goes from there being an empty chair at the back of the class to this boy filling that chair and the journey of how they help to include him and make him feel like he belongs,” ,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

“We’re launching it now but the project itself will culminate in a finale during the Lifelong Learning Festival, and in between, we’ll be hosting some events so we’ll have some quizzes, there’ll be art projects inspired by the book and we’ll also be working on the book and the themes of the book throughout the school year.” All pupils from the participating classes each receive a copy of the book free of charge, as do their families.

Staff and agency partners also receive a copy.

Teachers from classes not involved directly in the project will also share parts of the book with their classes as appropriate.

“Everybody gets a copy so we can all really share in the idea of that sense of belonging, that we’re all reading the same book in our community,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

The Boy at the Back of the Class, she said, offers an opportunity for reflection.

“The idea is that we would all really reflect on the type of people and the type of community that we want to be.”