Papdale Primary School £6k donation from Cooke Aquaculture Scotland

Youngsters at Papdale Primary School have been given a major literary boost – thanks to a generous donation of £6k from Cooke Aquaculture Scotland.

The money has been used to purchase a full set of phonics-based reading books.

Head Teacher Wendy Bowen said: “We never for one moment expected the full cost of purchasing a full set of phonics-based reading books to be met by Cooke Aquaculture’s community benefit fund. We were absolutely thrilled when we realised and very grateful to the company for their generous donation. Having resources such as these allow us to help give out youngest pupils the best start in their literary journey and it could not be more timely, in that it is National Storytelling Week from 29 January to 5 February, with a theme Your Story – My Story.”

The phonics series for children aged 4-7 sees each book introduce only a few letter/sounds at a time allowing independent reading from the outset.

Four books in each unit provide practice whilst offering different stories. Each unit introduces new letters/sounds while revising previously taught phonic letters/sounds and high-frequency or sight words.

It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language.

Mrs Bowen added: “Written language can be compared to a code, so knowing the sounds of individual letters and how those letters sound when they’re combined will help children decode words as they read. Understanding phonics will also help children know which letters to use when they are writing words.”

Robert Peterson, Orkney Area Manager for Cooke Aquaculture Scotland said: “As a family-owned company we care about supporting the communities we live and work in. Cooke Aquaculture’s community benefit fund exists to support local organisations and events throughout Orkney and we were thrilled to fully fund Papdale Primary School’s request for new phonics books, which will support the learning and literacy needs of some of the youngest pupils in our community at such a crucial stage of their education.

“We are just pleased to be in a position to be able to help and make a difference.”