Have you joined the Summer Reading Challenge yet? There’s still time! It’s free to join the library, get your Story Garden booklet, and take part.

From now until 6 September, students aged 4 to 11 can take part in this year’s challenge, called Story Garden. All you need to do is read six library books — any kind you like: stories, facts, picture books, joke books, audiobooks or e‑books. Every book gets you a sticker for your booklet, and when you finish, you’ll earn a medal, a certificate, and a chance to win a prize!

Why does an elephant use her trunk as a bookmark?
Because she nose where she stopped reading!

There’s also a Mini Challenge for under-4s, with their own sticker folder.

At Abingdon Library, older readers aged 11 and up — including local secondary school students, town councillors, and other volunteers — are helping at the desk, handing out booklets and stickers and cheering readers on.

The Summer Reading Challenge runs in libraries all over the UK. Last year, nearly 600,000 children took part.

And if you’re over 11, you can still join the library and read books for your own enjoyment — you won’t need stickers.

Builders are adding a new part to The Unicorn School in the old Premier Inn on Marcham Road in Abingdon. The Unicorn School helps students who learn differently, like those with dyslexia.

There is scaffolding outside the old hotel and builders are working inside, changing the hotel rooms into classrooms. They are putting in strong supports made of wood and steel, and adding a lift.

The Unicorn School, across the road, is already full and has 120 students. Lots of other students want to go to the school. Every year, 350 families ask for a place, but there are only 20 places.

The school bought the old Premier Inn and restaurant after the hotel moved to a new building near Tesco in Abingdon.

The building work will happen in two stages:

Stage 1 (Premier Inn changes – £2.4 million): This will add new classrooms for 120 more students. These classrooms will be ready for students to use in September 2025.

Stage 2 (Ock Mill changes – £2 million): This will add places for students over 16 to learn job skills. These places will be ready in 2026 and will help another 100 students.

If you want to know more about the new building and how you can help? Go to the website: https://www.unicornoxford.co.uk/support-us/ockmill/

Roysse’s Gateway, the historic entrance to The Old Abingdon Grammar School, has undergone conservation work in recent weeks.

Building conservationists have made repairs, and undertaken preservation work to prevent further decay and given the Roysse Arms a new coat of paint. The gateway used to lead into the school yard and was the gift of the Earl of Abingdon in 1811. The gateway is now permanently closed since the yard is now a public garden.

John Roysse, at the age of sixty-three, established the school in the year 1563, providing education for sixty-three boys. John Roysse left substantial funds to ensure the school’s enduring legacy. Today, the school is thriving on a larger site. It educates a significantly larger number of boys, and will soon welcome girls. See Abingdon School to welcome girls for the first time