Reading Schools Fund

Applications are now closed. This page is for information only.

What do we want to fund?

We are looking to fund projects and purchases that will help your school achieve Reading School accreditation. Grants of up to £500 are available to purchase:

Books or reading materials for your school
Furnishings for reading spaces

Eligibility criteria

The Reading Fund is open to all state funded schools in Scotland that are working towards Reading School accreditation. In order to be eligible for funding you should have a submitted and approved action plan, and be working towards Reading School accreditation at Core, Silver or Gold level.

How to apply

Step 1

Your lead contact should complete the short SurveyMonkey form to confirm you are currently working on your Reading Schools Accreditation through an approved Action Plan and intend to continue to accreditation. You must also agree to administrate and manage any funds as outlined.

Step 2: Reading Leadership Group submission

We want to hear from your Reading Leadership Group directly, and the format they choose for this is up to you – a drawing, poem, film, audio, animation, PowerPoint or Sway. Be as creative as you like but remember that this section of your application should be pupil-led. Entries will be judged on content not presentation but do have fun with it!

Films/audio/animations should be a maximum of 2 minutes. Please share a link to a WeTransfer, or upload these to YouTube and share with us through a private link, added to the SurveyMonkey form. You can review (this will open in a new window)YouTube guidance on uploading private video content for technical support. Get inspired by our (this will open in a new window)book reviews and trailers on film learning resource.
PowerPoint presentations should be a maximum of 10 slides (16MB), uploaded as a .PDF to the SurveyMonkey form.

Your submission should:

Provide the reasons for requesting funding for books and reading materials or furnishing for reading spaces
Demonstrate how these resources will be accessed by children and young people across the school
Show clear leadership from the group on this project, and that they have taken into account their peers across the school

Step 3: Supporting information from the key contact

The final short section of the SurveyMonkey is to be completed by the Key Contact in support of the Reading Leadership Group submission.

Please be aware that we receive a high volume of applications for this fund, so this is your chance to support the Reading Leadership Group’s application with strategic oversight and context on your setting.

We anticipate a huge amount of interest in this fund so be creative to let your application stand out. Your submission should reflect the interests and expression of your pupils, whether they choose to draw a picture of their proposed reading space or take us on a walking tour of your existing library collection. Let them tell us how they want to use a fund for books and reading materials, and/or furnishings for reading spaces.

Applications will be assessed by an independent panel including representatives from Scottish Government and Education Scotland.

Priority will be given to applications from schools who did not receive funding from Reading Schools Fund in 2022.

Please note that this Fund closed on Friday 3 November. Applications recieved before this deadline will be reviewed for Panel.

Other funding opportunities for schools from Scottish Book Trust

(this will open in a new window)Live Literature part-funded author events (closes Monday 20 November)
(this will open in a new window)Live Literature school residencies (currently closed, will reopen for applications next spring) - fully-funded opportunity for 10 schools per year to work with an author-in-residence
(this will open in a new window)Sensory Stories Fund (currently closed) available to any group or setting in Scotland that works with children with additional support needs. A grant of £500 can be used for purchase of tactile books, story sacks, sensory props and toys, and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
(this will open in a new window)Fully-funded ASN Schools Residencies (currently closed)