Pupils from Cavendish Community Primary School have won a day with best-selling author and illustrator Nick Sharratt, in recognition of their champion efforts during this year’s Summer Reading Challenge.
23% of the West Didsbury school’s pupils completed the challenge by reading at least six books across the long summer break - the highest percentage of any school in the city.
Much-loved author Nick will present the children with their winner’s trophy and spend the day running workshops with the lucky pupils on Friday 21 October.
The free Summer Reading Challenge takes place every year during the summer holidays, with children aged from four to eleven encouraged to sign up at their local library, then read six library books of their choice.
St. John's C.E. Primary School in Longsight came second in this year’s schools challenge, with 19% of pupils checking out six books from their local library – and they were also rewarded with a special day of workshops and poetry creation, from ‘That Poetry Bloke’, Craig Bradley.
Other prizes included a class trip to see the world premiere of the Wind in the Willows, donated by The Lowry Theatre, plus a collection of 50 new books for the school library.
A city-wide prize draw for all children who completed the challenge was won by Sirin Turshi, aged 9, who borrowed six books from Moss Side Powerhouse Library.
Sirin, who attends St Mary’s C of E Primary, was presented with a £100 toy store voucher.
And a special prize was awarded to Muhammad Abdulwahab, aged 6, for his exceptional effort of reading more than 40 books borrowed from Chorlton Library during the summer.
An individual winner from each library across Manchester has also received a goody bag of books and small gifts.
This year saw a massive 64% increase in the number of children who joined the Summer Reading Challenge, from 3,494 in 2015 to 5,712 this summer. This means that around 11% of all 4 - 11 year olds in Manchester took part.
And 48% more children who completed the challenge by reading six books or more) – up to 3,771 in 2016, from 2,553 in 2015.
Manchester Libraries were helped by 66 local young people aged 13-24, who volunteered a total of 670 hours of their time to promote the Summer Reading Challenge - signing up children and supporting the holiday activities - up from 63 volunteers and 550 hours volunteering time last year.
Executive Member for Culture and Leisure, Councillor Luthfur Rahman, said:
“The Summer Reading Challenge is a great way to encourage children to keep reading right through the summer holidays.
"Reading for pleasure is hugely beneficial for people of all ages - and our libraries will continue to encourage people young and old to make the most of our extensive book collections year round.”