Scottish school librarian in pioneering UK-Ukraine school partnership
Category: News
Following a successful application to The British Council, CILIPS Vice-President and Scotland’s Library and Information Professional of the Year 2018 Shelagh Toonen is looking forward to creating connections in an exciting new partnership focused on sharing stories and promoting reading for pleasure.
50 schools across the UK have been paired with 50 Ukrainian schools for a year-long reading project, working together on activities to build an understanding of each other’s cultures through a common love for reading. At Elgin Academy, Shelagh and English teacher Miss Macdonald’s Ukrainian partner school is Hadiach Lyceum No1, named after Olena Pchilka, in the Poltava region.
Shelagh will travel to Poland in September to participate in workshops and meet Ukranian colleagues. She and members of Elgin Academy class 2.2 will collaborate on the project, aiming to roll out it to their school colleagues and explore reading as a tool to expand horizons, build confidence and boost mental wellbeing. Evidence suggests that reading for pleasure helps young people feel more able to deal with difficult emotions and feel more confident. Through reading, children can experience different perspectives and build empathy for people who are different. It can help children facing adversity make sense of their own experiences and give others an understanding of the battles others face.
Writing to thank Shelagh for supporting the schools programme under the UK’s 100-year partnership with Ukraine, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said:
This historic partnership, which I was proud to sign in Kyiv earlier this year together with President Zelenskyy, is a statement of our unshakeable commitment to Ukraine – our pledge to stand with them in defending their country today and building a brighter future for tomorrow.
We are all affected by the instability that aggressors like Russia create. That is why standing with Ukraine in countering Russia’s invasion is deeply in our national interest – both today and in the future. And it is why we are investing in the UK’s security with the largest increase in defence spending since the Cold War.
But of course, we are not standing with Ukraine for our national interest alone – we are also standing with them because it is right. We have all been outraged by what the Ukrainian people have endured, moved by their bravery, and determined to help in any way we can.
The schools programme is part of this, as a clear illustration of the deep bonds between our two countries. Thousands of school children across the UK and Ukraine have applied to take part, and 100 schools are now being paired.
I saw for myself how powerful this can be when I visited Number 219 School in Kyiv and joined a lesson they held with All Saints Catholic Primary School in Anfield. Those pupils in Kyiv have known terrible hardship so it was wonderful to see their joy when the smiling faces from Liverpool appeared on the screen. By building links in this way, I believe we can help children on both sides expand their horizons, build their confidence, and form friendships that could last a lifetime.
So to you, and to all the British parents and children taking part, I want to say: thank you.
