When it comes to reading, children at Upton Juniors are never lost for words.
Literacy is a core part of the school’s learning and pupils of all ages are actively encouraged to explore the wide and varied world of information and entertainment books give them.
In a recent sponsored challenge to read as much as they could, pupils couldn’t wait to settle down and leap into the open pages.
Gemma Scarr, Head of Core Curriculum, said: “A local book representative, Reading with Rosie, who works in conjunction with Usborne Books set us the challenge and agreed that if we raised over £600 we would receive this amount plus 60% free in books.
“The response from the children and our families was overwhelming. Each child was tasked with raising a minimum of £2 each as this would mean we would raise just over £1000.
“Not only did they raise this but they doubled it and more and raised £2464.63.”
Each year group was also challenged to see who could read for the most amount of time during the two week period and the results were impressive.
In Year 3 Dylan read for a staggering 31 hours; Year 4 pupil Belle P read for 17 hours; in Year 5 Charlotte enjoyed reading for 25 hours and 50 minutes; and Year 6 pupil Robyn was engrossed for 16 hours.
And these are just a few of the results with so many children reading for so long.
Special mention to Marli in Year 3 who raised a staggering £185 and Amelia in Year 4 raising £130, with many children across the school reading for many hours raising £20 or more.
Miss Scarr added: “I am overjoyed with the participation of all the children and the support we have received from all the families and relatives.
“The money raised will go a long way to get new books into each and every classroom and around the school. The amount of money we have raised means that we will also receive 60% in free books from Usborne Books. This is such an amazing achievement and I am so proud of everyone for taking part.”
Head of School Darci Arthur added: “When Upton takes on a challenge it always responds well, and this task was enthusiastically completed and the total required was well beaten.
“Literacy is a cornerstone of our education and our girls and boys have a love of books and stories, whether it is for education and research, fact or fiction. It helps them develop a love for words and encourages the use of grammar – reading is the key that unlocks their imaginations.”