Reading Schools Fund

About the Reading Schools Fund

What do we want to fund?

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

• Books or reading materials for your school
• Furnishings for reading spaces

This competitive Fund aims to allocate awards to 40 successful applications.

Who can apply?

The Reading Schools Fund is open to state funded schools and grant-aided specialist provisions in Scotland that are working towards Reading School accreditation(this will open in a new window). To be eligible, you must have an approved action plan and be actively working towards accreditation at Core, Silver or Gold level.

This Fund is not open to settings that were awarded Reading Schools funding in the past three years, nor Pilot Early Learning and Childcare settings.

Timeline

• Fund open: Tuesday 1 September 2026
• Application deadline: Thursday 29 October 2026. Regretfully, late submissions will not be accepted.
• Decision announced: w/c Monday 30 November 2026
• Funds delivered to successful applicants: Friday 11 December 2026
• Confirmation of Spend due: Wednesday 31 March 2027

How to apply

Step 1: Confirming your details

Your funding Key Contact should confirm you are an eligible setting, currently working on your Reading Schools accreditation through an approved Action Plan and intend to continue to accreditation. Your Key Contact must agree to administrate and manage any funds, and return your Confirmation of Spend by Wednesday 31 March 2027 if successful.

Step 2: Reading Leadership Group submission

We want to hear from your Reading Leadership Group directly, and the format they choose is up to them – be as creative as you like, just remember that this section of your application must be pupil-led. Entries will be judged on content not presentation, but do remember to have fun with it and reflect the ethos of Reading Schools!  We advise that you begin discussing this with your Reading Leadership Group as soon as possible, to ensure there is plenty of time to put together their submission before the deadline on Thursday 29 October 2026.

By giving our Reading Leadership Group responsibility for deciding how to spend the funding, we watched them develop their enthusiasm and leadership skills, not only considering their own interests and wishes, but also reflecting on what the rest of their peers wanted and needed as well.

What is the Panel looking for in your Reading Leadership Group submission?

The 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 the fund for books and reading materials, and/or furnishings for reading spaces. They must also:

• 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

By giving pupils greater ownership of their new reading space, they became more motivated to discuss their needs and preferences for the library. This generated excellent ideas, including the creation of mood boards that linked their concepts to preferred products while working within a budget. Embedding pupil voice in our reading initiative aims to foster a sustained culture of reading that continuously evolves based on student input.

What submission formats do we accept?

• Films/audio/animations must be a maximum of 2 minutes and shared in an exported .MP4 or .MOV file format. You can share a link to a WeTransfer, or upload these to YouTube and share with us through a private link, added to the form. You can review YouTube guidance on uploading private video content(this will open in a new window) for technical support, and the WeTransfer 2025 Terms of Service(this will open in a new window) to confirm content ownership and GDPR-compliance. Get inspired by our book reviews and trailers on film learning resource(this will open in a new window) and 2025 recorded webinars with IntoFilm on creating book trailers(this will open in a new window) and vlogging and vox pops(this will open in a new window).
• PowerPoint presentations should be a maximum of 10 slides and uploaded as a .PDF. You can review Microsoft guidance on how to save a presentation as a .pdf(this will open in a new window). You can also upload a .doc / .docx, .png, .jpg / .jpeg or .gif file, ensuring that written content does not exceed two sides of A4.
• Web-based content and Sways must contain less than 10 slides of information / fewer than 2 minutes of media content and show clear design and leadership from your learners. Review Microsoft guidelines to ensure that we can view the Sway(this will open in a new window) before you share a link to it on your application.

Applications will not be accepted in incompatible file formats and may not be reviewed in full if they exceed the maximum content allocations.

The Reading Leadership Group thoroughly enjoyed putting together their application for the funding. They were desperate to show their enthusiasm and passion for reading. They used their ICT and literacy skills to create the script and video, and worked well as a team to edit and produce it.

The Reading Committee were very enthusiastic throughout the creation of our poem. Their involvement at the forefront of the application inspired them to work hard and think carefully about what was needed, as they felt that they could be directly responsible for making a change.

Step 3: Supporting information from the Key Contact

The final section of the form 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, and it is essential that you support the Reading Leadership Group’s application with clear strategic oversight and context on your setting. Applications will be assessed by an independent panel, including representatives from Scottish Government and Education Scotland.

You will be asked to complete three questions:

• How will this project benefit your school, and why is the funding necessary?
• How will the resources (books and reading materials, and/or furnishings for reading spaces) be accessed by children and young people across the school?
• Provide an estimated spending breakdown if your application is successful.

Apply now

By gathering pupils’ perspectives, we have tailored our approaches to literacy development, making reading more accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Ultimately, involving pupils in the process has not only enriched our funding application but has led to lasting improvements in reading engagement, attainment and literacy outcomes.