One hundred books have been donated to a Backwell school as part of the Times’ Books For Schools campaign.

North Somerset Times: Books For Schools hand over of school books to West Leigh Infants School Council.Books For Schools hand over of school books to West Leigh Infants School Council. (Image: Archant)

West Leigh Infants School is the fifth school to benefit from the scheme which was set up by the Times to help schools struggling to pay for resources due to funding cuts.

The school, in Westfield Drive, is running a number of schemes to encourage reading and teachers have seen a marked improvement among pupils.

Stephanie Allen, the school’s reading co-ordinator, said: “We are trying to incorporate different schemes to instil a love of reading in our young children.

“In doing this we are working hard to provide our children with the necessary and fundamental early reading skills needed for later life.

North Somerset Times: Books For Schools hand over of school books to West Leigh Infants School Council.Books For Schools hand over of school books to West Leigh Infants School Council. (Image: Archant)

“We have seen a huge improvement in our reading and writing skills, of which both are high priority within our school.

“One of our schemes that we offer is called the 100 Reads Challenge.

“In this we try to motivate children to read 100 books by the time they leave our school.

“The suggested book list is of high quality texts which also offer a breadth of reading experiences to enhance their general knowledge.

“We offer 100 reads book swaps periodically but we would love extra texts to fill out our boxes.

“Children are encouraged to read these books alongside the home reading scheme.

“We praise children’s efforts within the scheme and children receive a certificate every time they read 10 of the books from the challenge.”

The school is in need of more up-to-date and high quality texts to enable children to broaden their knowledge and skills.

The Times has given out 500 books to primary schools so far.

We are keen to give out 100 books to a school each month, so we are appealing for more donations of books and gift vouchers.

The Times would like to thank everyone who has donated to the appeal so far.

The generosity of our readers and community groups has enabled schools to provide a wider range of books to children.

Books can be dropped off at Portishead Town Council office, Folk Hall, High Street, at Clevedon Community Bookshop, in Copse Road, or to the North Somerset Times office in Waterloo Street, Weston-super-Mare.