Pupils at a West Lothian school are celebrating after winning a national reading award
Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives with reading and writing, has today announced this year’s winners of the First Minister’s Reading Challenge.
And the The P1 to P3 classes at Bankton Primary School have been awarded the Lower Primary Pupil Reading Journey award.
The pupils read a wide variety of books together this year, and the school were praised by the judging panel for their highly engaged and supportive teaching staff.
Bankton Primary School have been taking part in the Reading Challenge since 2017, and became a Gold Reading School in 2022 – the highest level of accreditation achievable through Scottish Book Trust’s Reading Schools programme.
The First Minister’s Reading Challenge was established in 2016, and celebrates the reading journeys of schools, libraries, and community groups across Scotland. The Challenge is run by Scottish Book Trust, working closely with Education Scotland. It includes book suggestions, learning resources, prizes, case studies and ideas to help young people develop a love of reading, as well as the opportunity to apply for funded author visits.
Emily Sinclair, deputy head teacher at Bankton Primary School, said: ‘As a school, we are delighted to receive this award in recognition of the love of reading that our children were able to demonstrate through their First Minister’s Reading Challenge submissions this year. At Bankton, we are dedicated to fostering this love of reading and continuing to develop our school reading journey. We are thrilled to be sharing this achievement with our wider school community.’
Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, added: ‘Many congratulations to this year’s First Minister’s Reading Challenge winners, as well as to those who were highly commended. Reading for pleasure supports attainment across the curriculum – as well as boosting empathy, wellbeing and critical thinking – and we are delighted to see how schools, libraries and community groups have used the Challenge to develop their reading cultures.”
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