School of the Term Summer 2021: St. Joseph's Primary School

We are thrilled to announce that St. Joseph's Primary School is the winner of our School of the Term award for Summer Term Two. Our final winning school for this academic year inspired us with their incredible pupil-led event that showcased just how amazing their school leavers are.

Independent Usborne Partner, Charley Clover, shares how the Primary 7 pupils from St. Joseph’s created their very own leaver’s legacy and why she nominated the school to win this award:

“I contacted St. Joseph’s with the idea of a ‘Leave a Legacy’ project for the final year pupils (Primary 7 in Scotland). The pupils were challenged to organise a sponsored event from start to finish – including advertising the event, designing sponsor forms and book plates, collecting the sponsorship money and choosing the books that they would leave to their school.

“The pupils at St. Joseph’s were incredibly organised from the word go, signing up for different roles within the project and making a timeline of when each task had to be completed by. The leavers arranged a launch assembly for the rest of the school and sent letters home to parents to ask for their support. One pupil wrote to local businesses and raised £350 in donations!

“The leaver pupils were incredibly enthusiastic and creative in their approach to this project. They came up with a fun activity to take place on the same day as their sponsored read. They made a book scavenger hunt for Primary 1-3, a design your own bookmark competition for Primary 4-6, and challenged themselves to do some extreme reading too!

Children from St. Joseph's enjoying their reading challenge

The school is the smallest I have worked with, at just 125 pupils, but raised the most out of all the schools taking part in the ‘Leave a Legacy’ project so far – an incredible £1835.32! With the additional 60% in free books that Usborne offers schools through their Independent Usborne Partner, this resulted in £2936.51 of new books for future years to enjoy!

“The 'Leave a Legacy' project was the perfect choice for ending this year in particular, as many of the usual end of term activities for leavers were unable to run.  It gave the pupils complete ownership and empowered them to make a positive difference to their school community.  The pupils loved being in charge - especially having control over how real money was spent! It encouraged them to think of others, since these books would not be used by their own class but left behind for the future students to enjoy.  

“I am so thrilled that St Joseph's Primary School have won - though not surprised!  They fully deserve it as they completely made the project their own. From organising their own assemblies and reaching out to local businesses, to coming up with inventive book related activities to get the whole school involved and enjoying the experience!”

Children from St. Joseph's reading everywhere!

Primary 7 teacher, Catherine McGuigan, told us: “When I first announced the 'Leave a Legacy' project to the class, they were so enthusiastic, we got to work straight away.

“When all the money was collected and counted, I was absolutely blown away. I will never forget the looks of surprise when I announced the total raised. The pupils were so pleased and delighted that they can leave their legacy!

“This has been a very challenging year and this project has held so much meaning for the pupils in my class. We cannot thank Charley enough for her support throughout the process. I can honestly say that we have thoroughly enjoyed every minute and are delighted that it has been such a success.”

Congratulations St. Joseph’s Primary School. Your Primary 7 pupils are a real credit to you and your local community!

What is School of the Term?

Celebrated six times a year, School of the Term is a half-termly award that recognises a school or nursery that has gone the extra mile to inspire their young readers, as nominated by their Independent Usborne Partner. 

Part of the Usborne Community Partnerships family, our Independent Usborne Partners work with schools and nurseries across the UK and mainland Europe to promote literacy, learning and, most importantly, reading for pleasure! Through fun reading events, they help schools to fill their libraries and classrooms with brilliant books (for free!) and to support schools in helping every child to see themselves as a reader.  If you are interested in an Usborne event, have a look at the dedicated schools area of our website and find out about the different events that our Independent Usborne Partners can arrange for your setting for free.