Young bookworms receive special delivery after completing sponsored read at Sheffield school

Youngsters from a Sheffield school have received a special delivery to help fill their library after taking part in a sponsored read to raise money for new books.
Pupils at St Joseph's school in Sheffield with their new booksPupils at St Joseph's school in Sheffield with their new books
Pupils at St Joseph's school in Sheffield with their new books

Earlier this year the pupils at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School, in Handsworth, took part in the Ready, Steady...Read! programme to fundraise for new books in a bid to update their library.

Over the course of a week, they were tasked with reading as much as they could – anything from books and comics to magazines – all while being sponsored to do so.

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Pictured is Lulya Resom, nine with some of the new booksPictured is Lulya Resom, nine with some of the new books
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Year 6 teacher and English Lead, Lisa Beasley, said: “The money just started coming in really. They had to fill in on the sheet how many books they’d read and we just had such good fun. The reading part of it was for a week, then they came back just before half term so we had an endpoint to it.”

The Ready, Steady...Read! programme, which is run by Usborne, the UK publisher of children’s books, encourages children to boost their literacy and read as much as they can, all while helping get free books for schools.

After contacting Usborne directly, Ms. Beasley said she was put in touch with Independent Usborne Organiser, Carron Charlesworth who helped the school prepare for the challenge by providing templates for reading logs in which the pupils to record their reading.

In all the young bookworms raised £1,200 towards the new books. But, as they managed to raise so much, Usborne pledged an additional 60 per cent in funds to, bringing the grand total to £2,000.

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Staff at St Joseph’s were then able to choose range of books which were then delivered to the school on October 14.

Ms. Beasley, added: “Already everyone that has been through has been so excited about the new books. With Carron’s help, we talked about the topics that we were doing at the school so she looked for special offers and things where you got a pack of great books and that helped maximise what we received.

“There are topic books, reading books, phonics books – everything that we could want. I think it’s going to make a massive difference to our library and just really promote reading and a love of reading which is what we’re about.”

For more information or to get involved with the Ready, Steady...Read! programme click here or contact Carron on 0789 482 9923.

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