Spotlight on Schools: How a Newcastle school for children with additional needs created a sense of wonder around books and got £120 worth of free Usborne books

The Percy Hedley School in Newcastle upon Tyne sets out to make a difference to the learning, wellbeing and future life chances of children with additional needs.

Independent Usborne Partner Vikki MacDonald shares how impressed she was with the pupils’ enthusiasm, curiosity, and the positive learning atmosphere that the school has cultivated: 

“I held a wonderful book fair for the children at The Percy Hedley School, a full age range specialist provision school for children from nursery age to post 16.  

For the event we chose a sell-on-the-day Book Fair to adapt to the pupils’ needs and to allow them to take their purchases away with them on the same day. It proved really successful and it was brilliant to see the children choosing their very own books. 

I hosted the Book Fair over two days, setting up shop in the school’s meeting room, known as The Rookery. Staff had transformed the room into a calm and welcoming environment, using lighting to create a wonderful ambience. 

Over the two days, children and their teachers browsed the books on offer. The small class sizes meant that pupils could browse the books freely, have a good look at them and choose which ones they would like to buy. The most popular books by far were from the Don't Tickle range, which provides a wonderful sensory experience for children with additional needs. 

Excitingly, sales exceeded £400 meant that the school had over £120 to spend as part of their free book allowance. They were thrilled that they could choose any books across the whole Usborne range, to support children on all pathways within the school. 

The Usborne Book Fair was a brilliant experience, and we are already planning Ready Steady Read and Ready Steady Listen fundraising events in the summer term, as well as more Book Fairs in the future.” 

Teachers Sarah Hamlin and Phillip Hedworth, who helped organise the book fair, were also incredibly pleased with the event, saying: 

“A huge thank you to Vikki and Usborne, who helped bring a marvellous event to our students at Percy Hedley School. The atmosphere was simply magical, as so many of our students of all needs were able to access and enjoy a variety of books! The range of fiction, non-fiction and especially sensory stories, piqued our students’ interests and sense of wonder.” 

Congratulations to The Percy Headley School and Independent Usborne Partner Vikki MacDonald for a truly inspirational event. 

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This blog was previously posted with the title 'School of the Term Spring 2023: The Percy Hedley School', on 30/03/23.

Usborne Community Partnerships is the direct sales division of Usborne Publishing, existing to support a vibrant network of Independent Usborne Partners - self-employed business owners who sell Usborne books in their communities across the UK and mainland Europe. 

Getting our brilliant books for curious kids into the hands of children everywhere is a huge part of our mission, and Independent Usborne Partners play a pivotal role in this. In fact, schools that host an Usborne Book Fair or reading event can get up to 60% of the value of the books sold in extra FREE books.

No budget? No problem. Your local Independent Usborne Partner can even help you fundraise, through sponsored reading challenges or by approaching local businesses on your behalf.

If you are interested in booking an Usborne event for your school, find out more here.