Eager readers bag school’s fourth prize

Pupils at a Paisley school have ‘booked’ their place as quadruple reading champs.

Renfrewshire Libraries set a Summer Reading Challenge, with youngsters being asked to read six books over the summer holiday.

Todholm Primary has been crowned winner, having won for the fourth year in a row.

C l a i re Ha l l , d e p u t e headmistress at the Lochfield Road school, revealed everyone was absolutely thrilled at the prize.

“This is a really big thing,” she said.

“We are even up on our own statistics — more of the children have participated, which is fantastic.”

The competition was run in a way that encouraged children to reach the target of six books.

“By the time they had read two, they would go back to their library and they would get a small gift, like a bookmark, to reward them,” Claire said.

The children all had their favourite authors and a variety of great books were read by them during the summer break.

“We found that they loved authors that are read to the children,” Claire added.

“We tried to encourage a reading culture.

“Social media was used to keep up the momentum, asking things like: ‘Where do you read your book?’”

One of Todholm Primary’s prizes was a visit from writer Angela Proctor.

A spokesman for the writer said: “Angela had a wonderful day introducing the P5 to P7 children to her magical little witch Thumble Tumble and talking to them about her many adventures on the enchanted Isle of Arran.

“The children’s enthusiasm was off the scale and their passion for reading was infectious.

“It was obvious why they had won the Summer Reading Challenge.

“The school launched into Angela’s challenges with gusto, creating the amazing PPP Potion, AKA Perfumed Poison Potion, and the Zero Gravity Potion, which she may well be borrowing for her future novels.”

Chairperson of Renfrewshire Leisure, Councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes added: “More pupils than ever completed this year’s Summer Reading Challenge.

“We saw 45 per cent of everyone who took part reading six books compared to 38 per cent last year.

“There was a total of 2,297 pupils taking part in the challenge and it’s great knowing that we’re encouraging more children to read books.

“Well done to Todholm for winning the challenge for the fourth time in a row.”

Prize guys Andrew Givan, children and families development coordinator at Renfrewshire Leisure, handed the award to acting headteacher Aileen Cochrane. Also in the picture is Phil Sherman from Booster Cushion Theatre Company who put on a show for the pupils as part of the prize Read all about it Six-year-old Jack Watson and Amy Quinn, seven, with acting headteacher Aileen Cochrane