Castleton Primary pupils benefit from storytelling bursary

Stewart Milne Homes has selected Castleton Primary School in Castlemilk to receive a share of its £1,000 literacy bursary to spend on books for their library.

Article Source: Stewart Milne Homes
Last Updated: 29 June 2018 9:23

The homebuilder launched the competition to celebrate national Share-a-Story month in May and called on primary schools and nurseries across central Scotland to share their best-loved stories.

Castleton Primary were one of four schools, selected from over 40 entries, to benefit from the £1,000 bursary set up by the housebuilder to celebrate and encourage reading and have been awarded £250 to spend on new books for the primary school to enjoy.

Pupils from both primary 1 and primary 7 were selected for their winning entry ‘Gorilla Loves Vanilla’ by Chae Strathie as the story they would most like to share. The pupils enjoyed the story together as part of P7s buddy system where they read to P1s. The story was chosen for its amazing illustrations, it’s hilarious writing and its central message that everyone is unique.

Commenting, Emily, 11, said: “The story is about Sam the shop keeper not judging the animals for the ice cream that they like, so it’s all about not judging a book by its cover which is an important message for everyone.”

Owen, 11, added: “It is a great book with a really nice message, it’s also colourful, easy to read and very funny, so that’s why I think the P1s liked it so much!”

Ainsley Rogers primary 7 teacher at Castleton Primary, said: “Reading is incredibly important for children of all ages and is a great way to develop their imaginations as well as learning important messages like the one outlined in Gorilla Loves Vanilla. Children’s learning and development is also greatly accelerated by having access to books and on behalf of all the pupils, we would like to say a big thank you to Stewart Milne Homes for this very generous donation which will help us to stock up on lots of new reading material; the pupils are very excited.”

Kevin Moreland at Stewart Milne Homes, added: “The pupils at Castleton Primary have chosen a brilliant book and it is fantastic to see so many children getting involved and sharing their love of reading. We are really pleased we can support communities local to our developments and we hope the children get hours of enjoyment from the books purchased and discover new stories to treasure and indeed share.”

Stewart Milne Homes will be asking the public to help select their favourite story from a shortlist of the most popular entries. This will be held on the homebuilder’s Facebook page.

Stewart Milne Homes is creating a new community at Coulter’s Brae in Carmunnock later this year with a collection of premium homes inspired by the stunning rural setting, including; one bedroom studio apartments, two and three bedroom apartments and four and five bedroom detached family homes. For further information call 0845 309 6130 or visit www.stewartmilnehomes.com.