A New Chapter For Our Books

As you know, during Summer 2025 the school undertook a major project, moving from our old building into temporary classrooms. For the English department, this move meant finally confronting a long neglected book cupboard: dusty, overcrowded and quietly holding a time capsule of texts collected over many decades. Sadly, a lack of space and changing curriculum's meant that we could not hold on to these texts and so, it was time for them to go.  

While the thought of these books being abandoned to a giant skip filled the English Department with despair, we also quickly discovered that most charity shops were understandably reluctant to accept 200 copies of Julius Caesar. Determined not to let these books go to landfill, we were delighted to discover the Canterbury-based charity Books2Africa. Their mission is to promote a culture of ‘readcycling’ and improve the quality of education in Africa. 

Over two days at the end of term, the English department worked together to sort through thousands of books, carefully setting aside those that were too damaged or lovingly graffitied with highly original notes such as “Davy woz ere in 1993.” Even after these removals, we were thrilled to pack more than 80 boxes of books, ready to begin a new chapter overseas. 

At the start of the summer holiday, with the support of the site team to help load up at one end, Ms Christie completed two delivery runs to the charity’s hub in Canterbury. Recently, we have received the exciting news that the first shipments have arrived at education hubs in Ghana and Nigeria, where both students and adult learners are now enjoying them. 

Click here to read more.....