Tag: Live Literature School Residencies Programme

Edinburgh school selected for a Scottish Book Trust professional author residence

St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Edinburgh has been selected to receive a twelve-week author residency with Ross Collins Mackay, thanks to generous funding from the Walter Scott Giving Group.   

The Live Literature School Residencies Programme, now in its eleventh year, is organised by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading and writing.  

The residencies, delivered at no cost to the school, are designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading and writing amongst pupils. They also give professional writers like Ross Mackay the opportunity to build relationships with the school and work together on a creative project.  

St Joseph’s Headteacher Mhairi Brannan says:‘We are delighted to welcome an author in residence to our school. This is a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to be inspired by a professional writer and to build their confidence in expressing their own ideas through writing.

“We are really looking forward to seeing their creativity flourish and watching them discover just how powerful their own voices can be.’ 

Ross Mackay says: ‘Before I was a writer, I was a learning assistant at St Joseph’s. Back then the school was bursting with creativity and I’m sure it’s the same now – so as much as I am hoping to inspire the pupils, I am certain they will be inspiring me too.’ 

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, says: ‘Congratulations to St Joseph’s RC Primary School for this wonderful opportunity that is sure to enrich pupils. 

“The Live Literature School Residencies Programme is an important flagship programme for Scottish Book Trust. Over the course of the 12 fully funded sessions, pupils and teachers receive expert guidance from their chosen authors, allowing creativity to thrive.

“These creative projects also offer the chance to tap into the local community, while promoting reading and writing cultures. We are incredibly grateful to our funders the Walter Scott Giving Group for making these residencies possible.”

Schools across the country were invited to apply to the programme which brings professional authors into the classroom to inspire and engage pupils. Each school taking part in the programme will receive 12 sessions delivered by an author from Scottish Book Trust’s author directory. They also receive a £500 grant for resources. 

The residencies will run across the 2026-27 school year and finish by May 2027.  

Each school’s project will be showcased on Scottish Book Trust’s website, alongside suggested learning resources and helpful tips to make the most of the residency sessions. 

The eight schools who have been selected to receive twelve-week author residencies, thanks to generous funding from the Walter Scott Giving Group are:

e-Sgoil (Na h-Eileanan Siar) – author Louisa MacDougall

Stirches Primary School (Hawick, Scottish Borders) – author Alan Windram

Kirkintilloch High School (Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire) – author Nadine Aisha Jassat

St Joseph’s RC Primary School (Edinburgh) – author Ross Collins Mackay

Sunnybank Primary School (Aberdeen) – author Shalla Gray

Toryglen Primary and Language & Communication Resource (Glasgow) – author Yasmin Hanif

Newtonmore Primary School (Highland) – author Shelagh Campbell

Childcare in the Community (South Lanarkshire) – author Eric Brennan

Edinburgh primary selected to receive a professional author residency

Sighthill primary selected to receive a professional author residency

Traditional storyteller Claire McNicol will be coming to Sighthill Primary School, Edinburgh to work with pupils, after the school was selected as one of ten schools across Scotland to receive fully-funded author residencies from Scottish Book Trust.

The Live Literature School Residencies Programme, now in its ninth year is funded by the Walter Scott Giving Group and delivered by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading and writing. 

Claire McNicol is an experienced traditional storyteller and singer born in Ulster and living in Edinburgh. She combines storytelling with a career in social work supporting vulnerable children and their families.

Over fourteen sessions, Claire will help boost confidence in pupils and to recognise the value of their own voice through telling stories. The residencies are designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading and writing amongst pupils, as well as giving professional writers the opportunity to build relationships with the school and work together on a creative project. 

Claire McNicol said: ‘Thanks to the support of the Live Literature School Residency I am delighted to be appointed to work with Sighthill Primary School. 

“I visited the school as part of Scottish Book Week and worked with the infant classes. This residency will afford me the opportunity to work across the whole school community nurturing children’s development through story and song.  

‘The aim of the residency is to catalyse confidence in each and every child that they have something important to say and that their voices matter and need to be heard both in spoken word and in writing.’

Marc Lambert, Chief Executive of Scottish Book Trust, said: ‘Well done to the ten schools across Scotland that have been selected for the Live Literature School Residencies Programme.

“It’s an incredibly valuable programme as it allows authors to build relationships with a school over time, and to inspire pupils to develop a love of writing and creative expression.

‘These creative projects also offer the chance to engage with the local community, while promoting reading and writing cultures. We are grateful to our funders the Walter Scott Giving Group for making this programme available to all schools.’

Schools across the country were invited to apply to the programme which brings professional authors into the classroom to inspire and engage pupils. Each school taking part in the programme will receive 14 fully-funded residency sessions carried out by an author.

The residencies will run across the 2024-25 school year and finish by May 2025. The Walter Scott Giving Group has funded the Live Literature School Residencies Programme for the past nine years. As well as an author residency, schools will receive a resources grant of £500.

Two Edinburgh schools recieve free author residency

Scottish Book Trust has announced ten schools who will receive fully-funded author residencies this school year to inspire a lifelong love of reading and writing.

The residencies will also give professional writers the opportunity to build relationships with the school and work together on a creative project. Longstone Primary School will work with storytellers Macastory and Woodlands School will work with comic artist and writer Malcy Duff.

The Live Literature School Residencies Programme, now in its sixth year, is funded by the Walter Scott Giving Group and delivered by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading and writing.

Three ASN centres were also awarded fully-funded author residencies in the third year of the Additional Support Needs strand of the programme, funded by the Mohn Westlake Foundation.

Schools across the country were invited to apply to the programme which brings professional authors into the classroom to inspire and engage pupils.

Each school taking part in the programme will receive 12 fully-funded residency sessions and ASN schools will receive 15 fully-funded sessions, carried out by an author from Scottish Book Trust’s author directory. It includes over 600 professional writers, poets, playwrights, illustrators, performance poets and storytellers.

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: “The Live Literature School Residencies Programme is incredibly important, as it allows authors to build relationships with a school over time, working together with pupils on a dedicated project.

“Many of these projects will work with the local community and will also build on the school’s COVID recovery plan, addressing issues such as pupil wellbeing; rebuilding reading and writing cultures and also lost transition time for P7/S1.

“We are grateful to our funders the Walter Scott Giving Group and the Mohn Westlake Foundation for making this programme available to all schools including ASN settings.”

The residencies will run across the 2021-22 school year and finish by May 2022. The Walter Scott Giving Group has funded the Live Literature School Residencies Programme for six years, and the Mohn Westlake Foundation has funded the ASN School Residencies Programme for three years. As well as an author residency, schools will receive a resources grant of £500.

Each school’s project will be showcased on Scottish Book Trust’s website, alongside suggested learning resources and helpful tips to make the most of the residency sessions.

 Angela Pearston, Head Teacher at Longstone Primary School, said: “We are so excited about our forthcoming residency and hope that it will inspire and motivate our pupils to have confidence in their abilities as storytellers and writers.”

Macastory said: “We are delighted to be involved in the project and are excited to explore stories of the past from the Longstone area of Edinburgh with the children. We’ll see where that takes their imaginations! We can’t wait to see how the pupils will imagine their version of Longstone’s amazing history.”

Karen Byrne, Principal Teacher Support for Learning at Woodlands School, said: “Woodlands is excited to explore journeys of hope and resilience through word and sequenced visuals. We want to share and establish confidence in our personal and collective voice and continue this beyond the residency.”

Malcy Duff said: “I’m excited about offering comic book storytelling as a creative medium for learners to develop their own visual language and explore new narratives that challenge the old. I hope this work will increase participants’ confidence and expand the use of comic book storytelling as an important form of communication.”