Children to get book boost with KCOM community grant

The Friends of Westcott PTA is one of three charities chosen to receive a grant from Hull’s IT and communications provider and will now invest the £1,000 award in new sets of Rigby Star Books.

The books are popular choices at primary schools and are used by reception classes, Year 1 and Year 2 to encourage a love of reading at an early age.

Friends of Westcott received hundreds of votes after KCOM opened its community grant scheme to the public – allowing the people of Hull to decide who most deserved one of its three quarterly grants.

Alison Ashcroft, of Friends of Westcott, said: “We were ecstatic after being shortlisted by the KCOM community team and that the public got behind us in the vote, making us successful in securing a grant.

“The money will enable us to purchase books for children which are used for guided reading at school and at home.”

All Key Stage 1 children at the east Hull school will use the new books in class and will be able to take them home to read with their parents.

Alison added: “The grant will enable us to purchase 12 sets of these books which are described as - the nation's number one choice for Foundation and KS1 guided reading.

“Rigby Star Guided is the only programme built specifically for guided reading with rich, multi-layered stories and non-fiction texts by top quality authors and illustrators, guaranteed to captivate children and facilitate discussion.

“The books are used in school and taken home by the children to encourage and develop their guided reading skills. The school already has some of the sets but the ones we have are very old, many have gone missing and it would be great to have a full new set to provide children a diverse range of reading material.”

Friends of Westcott is the PTA group formed to support Westcott Primary School by providing educational resources, equipment and opportunities. It also facilitates events that enhance parent, child and school relationships and fosters opportunities for wider engagement and inclusion.

The group was established in June 2018 and has big plans for the future.

It has already made great efforts with fundraising and has hosted numerous events that aims to integrate the school further into the wider community and forged links with local businesses.

For more detail about the group click here.

For more details about KCOM’s Community Grants Scheme click here.