Reading

We know the importance of reading for young children, not just as a gateway for learning but for promoting mental wellbeing and developing empathy, kindness, and an understanding of the world. Our aim is to foster a love of reading in all our girls; from the moment they join Rowan.

Rowan has a collection of 7,000 books across two libraries, and the girls are introduced to a wide variety of authors, illustrators, book genres and formats, appropriate for their age and curriculum stage through their weekly library lesson with our dedicated Librarian, Mrs Davis. Storytime forms an important part of lessons, and girls are also encouraged to choose books from the library to take home and enjoy with family. In addition, we have a rich schedule of book events and activities held throughout the year including author visits, book fairs, competitions and dress-up days!

Rowan has two beautiful library spaces – one for the younger girls at the Brae and the other for the prep girls at the Hill. Both are nature-themed, calming spaces that reflect our school’s beautiful rural setting.

Both our pre-prep and prep school libraries underwent complete refurbishment in 2024. The spaces are nature-inspired, featuring sunny woodland scenes, cosy reading nooks, forest tree stump stools and even a life-size rowan tree!

Libraries are the perfect setting for our girls to discover reading for pleasure and to foster a sense of wellbeing through reading.

Our libraries are bright and welcoming spaces which have proved hugely popular amongst our girls; please see below just some of the feedback we received from our pupils:

"This is my happy place’"

"It’s amazing, I absolutely love it!"

"It’s the best library ever!"

"It feels like you're in a story!"

"This place is magical!"

"This is not a library; this is a forest of books."

"It's cosy and cuddly. It's like the library's giving me a big hug!"

If you would like to find out more about our library refurbishment, please see our featured case study: Rowan Preparatory School | Interior Design for Libraries - Peters