Islington Council donates more than a thousand books to Mother Tongue Supplementary Schools

Mother Tongue Supplementary Schools are community groups running afterschool and weekend classes for children, offering cultural education and language learning in children’s “mother tongue”, as well as supporting learning in core subjects like maths and English. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has created limitations and challenges for these supplementary schools as it has for mainstream education, and has meant that many children have had reduced access to new books.

Islington Council has donated book boxes containing over 100 new books for each of the 12 community groups running Mother Tongue Supplementary Schools, with works for children between the ages of 5-11 years. The books selected are a range of titles with a focus on celebrating cultural heritage featuring characters with diverse backgrounds, as well as many popular children’s favourites.

Cllr Michelle Ngongo, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families, said:

“The impact of the pandemic on children’s education is still being felt all around the UK, and is also being felt by community groups providing supplementary cultural and language education. Given the huge impact reading has on children’s development and educational attainment, supporting cultural education programmes to encourage reading is vital in helping to build a fairer future for our children, so I’m delighted we’ve been able to assist Mother Tongue schools in keeping kids reading.”

Cllr Una O’Halloran, Executive Member for Community Development, said:

“The council is committed to championing and celebrating diversity, and Mother Tongue Supplementary Schools are a huge part of that effort in Islington. We’re pleased we can assist these groups in continuing their important work teaching our children to value and celebrate their cultural heritage as part of one beautiful and diverse Islington community.”