Wellingborough school starts new chapter with World Book Day donation

Pupils at a Wellingborough school have been been gifted a bundle of new books for their school library to mark World Book Day.

Friars Academy received the donation thanks to the Morrisons Foundation, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, as part of a countrywide initiative to encourage reading with the annual event falling on Thursday March 4 this year.

The donation to Friars Academy is one of 497 schools throughout Britain that has received one of the book bundles which includes The Extraordinary Life of Amelia Earhart by Sheila Kanani and The Racehorse Who Learned to Dance by Clare Balding.

Skye Summerton, community champion from the Morrisons store in Wellingborough, delivered the books to Friars Academy.

She said: “I’m so proud to be helping kids in my community through this donation of books. We are living through challenging times and I hope these stories will give children at Friars Academy some fun and enjoyment.”

The Morrisons Foundation donation comes after a recent study conducted by the National Literacy Trust showed that reading has provided a vital refuge for children during the ongoing lockdowns - 59 per cent of children stated that reading during lockdown made them feel better, 32 per cent said it helped them when they felt sad they could not see their family and friends, and half of children said that reading inspired them to dream about the future beyond Covid-19.

The initiative aims to encourage 125,000 children from local communities to discover a love of reading this World Book Day and over the past three years Morrisons Community Champions have shared out 20,000 books with schools in their local communities.

David Scott, Morrisons Foundation trustee, said: “We’re delighted to be teaming up with the National Literacy Trust again to provide books to thousands of pupils across the UK. We hope these books for school libraries in our local communities will give enjoyment to children and help to boost their literacy skills.”

Jonathan Douglas CBE, chief executive of the National Literacy Trust, said: “We are proud to join forces with Morrisons Foundation to provide thousands of books to children who need them most this World Book Day. Books have the power to change children’s life stories and the books provided through this fantastic initiative will also provide inspiration and comfort during this continued time of uncertainty.”