My first volunteer placement – Sheffield Springs Academy

I placed my first Reading Matters Volunteer Reading Mentors today (7/10/08), at the very impressive Sheffield Springs Academy. The new building, which opened in February (see the article in The Star), is very inspiring, lots of glass and wood give a really open airy feeling even when the corridors are teaming with pupils. There are great views of the city and fields beyond, very different to those old Victorian schools with windows you can’t actually see out of.

I think our Reading Matters volunteers will be very happy there, the Resource Centre is very will appointed, and all the staff I met were very appreciative and welcoming.

Seemed to me a good example of how the architectural environment can really help to inspire the people who use it, Kevin McCloud would be proud.