Media release: One in three primaries in Scotland sign up for free ‘Books for Schools’

FOLLOWING last month’s launch of the ‘Books for Schools’ reading initiative, in which The Scottish Sun and publisher, HarperCollins, joined forces to give away reading packs to Scottish primary schools, registration has closed with 710 schools signed up: around one in three primary schools in Scotland.

Each primary is able to get a pack containing over 100 books for their school library.

Primary schools have been encouraged to take advantage of the offer by registering and collecting tokens printed in The Scottish Sun and The Scottish Sun on Sunday during an eight-week period from Monday 24th September until Sunday 18th November.

The pack is worth over £550 and the books are selected from the ‘Collins Big Cat’ range – covering subjects ranging from fairytales to football, camping to crocodiles, and wild cats to worms.

Julia Donaldson, Michael Rosen, Michelle Robinson, Sir Michael Morpurgo, Benjamin Zephaniah and Nick Butterworth are among the award-winning authors and illustrators whose works are included.

Alan Muir, editor of The Scottish Sun, said: “This is a fantastic response from primary schools the length and breadth of Scotland. We are proud to be giving to the community by increasing opportunities for children to read and learn, and delighted that around a third of all primaries have registered for ‘books for schools’, which exceeds our wildest expectations.”

Colin Hughes, managing director of Collins Learning, said: “We are thrilled that so many children at primary schools right across Scotland will shortly be enjoying thousands of free Big Cat books that will enthral and delight them for many years to come.”

ENDS

Issued on behalf of News Scotland by Charlotte Street Partners. For further information, please call David Gaffney or Kevin Pringle at Charlotte Street Partners on 0131 516 5310.

Notes to editors:

NEWS SCOTLAND

News Scotland, publishers of The Scottish Sun and The Scottish Sun on Sunday, is one of the fastest-growing media brands in Scotland, appealing to new and growing audiences through mobile and digital innovation.

HARPERCOLLINS UK

HarperCollins UK is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, the second largest consumer book publisher in the world, with operations in 18 countries, and, with 200 years of publishing history behind it, one of the oldest. The company, which was named Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards 2018, was founded in Glasgow where over 400 of its staff are based in its Bishopbriggs offices and Distribution Centre. Glasgow is one of two cities where HarperCollins is working with the National Literacy Trust on The Literacy Project, an industry-wide initiative to help improve literacy standards and social mobility, with employees working with the Early Words Together programme helping young families discover the joy of reading together.

With more than 120 unique imprints around the world, HarperCollins publishes approximately 10,000 new books every year, in 17 languages, and has a print and digital catalogue of more than 200,000 titles. Writing across dozens of genres, HarperCollins authors include winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals and the Man Booker Prize. HarperCollins UK has offices in London, Glasgow and Honley, and can be found online at www.harpercollins.co.uk.

COLLINS LEARNING

Collins has been publishing educational and informative books for almost 200 years. Throughout this rich heritage it has created market-leading products across various sectors – now focusing on education, dictionaries and language learning, atlases and general reference.

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