Tag: literacy

Hello Dolly! Imagination Library’s Kirsteen shares the joy of reading with pre-school children

 • Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library aims to inspire a love of reading in pre-School children
• More than 150k free books delivered to children in Scotland since 2011
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library attending the Scottish Learning Festival on 20/21 September

Edinburgh’s Kirsteen Watson is playing a key role in helping Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library inspire a love of reading in pre-school children across the UK. Kirsteen is one of two Regional Directors in the UK and is responsible for managing the literacy programme in communities across Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland. Continue reading Hello Dolly! Imagination Library’s Kirsteen shares the joy of reading with pre-school children

FM Reading Challenge to be piloted in secondary schools

A scheme to encourage literacy and a love of reading in young people is being expanded to secondary schools across Scotland. The First Minister’s Reading Challenge will now be piloted up to S3 in six schools across Scotland.

Earlier this year the First Minister announced that the scheme was being rolled out to all primary school children, following a trial year among P4-P7. More than three quarters of all local authority primary schools in Scotland signed up to the First Minister’s Challenge in the first year of it being introduced when it was offered to older primary school children.

Research shows reading for pleasure drops off as young people reach secondary school and the expansion of the scheme is designed to ensure young adults continue to enjoy reading long after they have left primary school.

Speaking during a visit to one of the pilot schools, St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School yesterday, the First Minister said: “I am incredibly proud of the success the First Minister’s Reading Challenge has had in nurturing a love of reading for pleasure amongScotland’s young people which is why this expansion to secondary schools is so exciting.

“I am determined to ensure we continue to promote reading as one of life’s greatest pleasures – and that young people reap the benefits of the resulting educational attainment that can be achieved.”

Michael Wilkie, Literacy Coordinator from St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School, said: ‘We are absolutely thrilled to be part of the First Minister’s Reading Challenge. Reading has been such an important aspect of our plans for raising attainment in the last few years, and this exciting initiative will be the drive to expand reading for pleasure across the entire school community.

“Plans are already in progress to engage parents to help their children be the best readers they can be, to support staff across the curriculum to confidently teach and assess reading, and to give pupils as many opportunities as possible to pick up a book and get reading. With an active and enthusiastic literacy committee and pupils who thrive on reading, we are certainly up for the challenge.’

Marc Lambert, CEO at Scottish Book Trust, which runs the programme, added:”This expansion of the First Minister’s Reading Challenge builds on the huge success of its first year and opens up the joy of reading for pleasure to all primary children.  The secondary school pilot will focus on a key age group, among whom reading for pleasure can tail off due to the pressures on time that come with high school.

“The Reading Challenge will focus attention on this, giving pupils more opportunities to share and celebrate what they love reading, delve deeper into writing and discover different ways to enjoy books.”

Craigroyston Primary project is Charity Times Award finalist

A literacy programme at Craigroyston Primary School is in the running for a national award. The pioneering programme jointly ran by Scottish Book Trust and Scottish Gas has been announced as a finalist at the Charity Times Awards. Continue reading Craigroyston Primary project is Charity Times Award finalist

Cash boost for community book festival

An annual book festival aimed at boosting literacy among children from an under-resourced Edinburgh community has been given a £1,000 boost thanks to a regional builder. Persimmon Homes East Scotland was so impressed with the work of the Craigmillar Literacy Trust that it was chosen to receive a match-funding donation through the builder’s successful Community Champions scheme. Continue reading Cash boost for community book festival

Children join First Minister for Reading Challenge celebration

Children from across the country took part in the first celebration event for an initiative that fosters a lifelong love of reading amongst Scotland’s young people. Around 600 P4 – P7 children joined First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the inaugural First Minister’s Reading Challenge ceremony in Edinburgh. Continue reading Children join First Minister for Reading Challenge celebration

Partnership makes book reuse a priority on UK campuses

Partnership provides new opportunities for students, faculty and the wider campus community to maximise the value of their unwanted books

Better World Books, the award-winning, socially minded  global bookseller, is delighted to announce a new partnership with the EAUC, the environmental and sustainability champion within Further and Higher Education in the UK, to drive sustainability and book reuse at university and college campuses across the UK.

The EAUC and Better World Books will work together to locate book banks which will provide students, staff and the wider community with a convenient and easy way to donate books that they no longer want. Books that are collected will be processed at the Better World Books distribution centre in Dunfermline and listed for sale on www.betterworldbooks.co.uk and other online marketplaces.  A percentage of every book sold will support the EAUC’s mission.  Any books that cannot be sold will be donated or recycled–no books ever become landfill.  The book banks are supplied free of charge by Better World Books.

Better World Books successfully operates its book bank programme at various locations across the UK, including Fife. In Fife alone, almost one million books have been collected since 2013.

The EAUC leads and empowers the post-16 education sector to put sustainability at the heart of the way the world operates. The EAUC believes that both the issues of social, environmental and economic sustainability are interlinked as well as the solutions.

Iain Patton, EAUC CEO, said, “EAUC’s new partnership with Better World Books aims to help our members bridge the ‘learning gap’ and stop books being lost to landfill.”

Better World Books, as a founding member of the B Corp movement and the winner of the VIBES Circular Economy Award in 2015, shares similar goals of reuse and sustainability.

Martin Mullin, Head of Sales UK for Better World Books added, “This exciting partnership between the EAUC and Better World Books is a brilliant concept with sustainability at the very centre.  Together we will work to place book banks across Universities and Colleges and collect books that would otherwise be going to landfills.  The book banks are a very convenient way for everyone involved in campus life to participate.  We’re really pleased to be working with an organisation that shares our environmental goals and values.”

Book gift packs for all P2 and P3 children

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Every P2 and P3 child in Scotland will receive a pack containing books, games and other materials to help improve their literacy and numeracy skills. Education Secretary John Swinney launched the first packs at Towerbank Primary School, as part of the Read, Write, Count campaign delivered by Scottish Book Trust which encourages parents to actively engage in their child’s learning journey. Continue reading Book gift packs for all P2 and P3 children

Mara and Craigroyston kids share stories in the garden

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Storyteller Mara Menzies joined Craigroyston Primary P2 children for a storytelling session in North Edinburgh Arts’ beautiful community gardens yesterday. Continue reading Mara and Craigroyston kids share stories in the garden

City-based author wins Scottish Children’s Book Award

The Piper tops Scottish Book Awards poll

danny weston

Danny Weston, the Edinburgh-based author of four novels, was today (2 March) announced as the winner of the Older Readers (12-16 yrs) category of the Scottish Children’s Book Awards 2016, which celebrate the most popular children’s and young adult books by Scottish authors or illustrators.

Scotland’s largest book prize for children’s authors and illustrators, with each winning book receiving £3,000, the Scottish Children’s Book Awards are voted for exclusively by children and are run by Scottish Book Trust and supported by Creative Scotland through Regular Funding.

Nearly 30,000 votes were cast in this year’s awards, which are judged in three age categories – Bookbug Readers (3-7), Younger Readers (8-11) and Older Readers (12-16). Children across Scotland were encouraged to read the three shortlisted books in their age category and to vote for their favourite. 

Danny (above), who lives in Tollcross, won the Older Readers (12-16 yrs) category for his book The Piper. Published by Andersen Press, the book follows Peter and his little sister, Daisy, who are evacuated from London to the countryside and find themselves on an isolated farm in the middle of a treacherous marshland. As Daisy gets drawn deeper into the secrets of their new home, Peter starts to realise that something very sinister is going on. What is that music they can hear at night? And who are the children dancing to it?

The Piper

Danny has published three novels (under the name Philip Caveney) with Edinburgh-based publisher Fledgling Press. These are time travel adventures, all set in Edinburgh at different points in its history. The first book Crow Boy is set in Mary Kings Close, Seventeen Coffins is all about the tiny coffins found on Arthur’s Seat in 1836 and the most recent book, One For Sorrow, is all about Robert Louis Stevenson.

Commenting on his win, Danny said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have won this award, especially because it has been voted for, not by critics and industry insiders, but by the people who matter most; the young readers for whom the story was actually written. Thanks to everyone who voted for ‘The Piper’. You have rocked my world!”

Jasmine Fassl, Head of Schools at Scottish Book Trust, said: “It’s a well-worn statistic that a love of books is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status. Initiatives like the Scottish Children’s Book Awards are intended to instill a love of books in children right from the very start, by making the process of reading fun, interactive and collaborative. But it’s the teachers, librarians, parents, and of course the authors and illustrators, who bring this project to life for the pupils – who download the resources, who put on the silly voices, who cuddle and tickle and leap about. Today we’re celebrating all the people who bring the magic of books to children and set them on a path to being booklovers for life.”  

Aly Barr, Head of Literature, Languages and Publishing at Creative Scotland, said: “Once again the Children’s Book Awards confirm Walt Disney’s maxim that “there is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island”. If you’re only buying one book for your child this year, buy all three!”  

Simon Puttock was announced as the winner of the Bookbug (3-7 yrs) category for his picture book Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School, (illustrated by Ali Pye) and Ross MacKenzie won the Younger Readers (8-11 yrs) category for his book The Nowhere Emporium.