Pilot project opportunity for secondary schools

• Any secondary school in Scotland, or education setting where pupils aged 11–18 are accommodated in place of school.

• Which is at any stage of a Reading Schools journey at the time of application, from Core Action Plan to Gold Award.

• Applications from ASN settings or departments are welcome.

Conflicts and other funding

• Due to the small number of places in the pilots available, you can apply for both projects, but you can only accept one place, and schools will only be awarded one set of BookBoxes or one creative workshop.

• You can apply even if you're receiving support from another Scottish Book Trust programme.

• Deadline for applications: Friday 10 November at noon.

• Results to schools by end of term in December.

BookBox

• Boxes will be sent in January–February 2024.

• We'd ask you to gift these to pupils and send any feedback back in by May 2024.

Author events

• Funding can be used January–May 2024.

• We'd ask you to hold your event and send any feedback back in by May 2024.

Fill in the very short application form by Friday 10 November at noon. Each form asks for basic contact details and asks three short questions. You will not be asked for school statistics on this occasion.

These forms are hosted on Microsoft Forms – contact schools@scottishbooktrust.com if you have any questions or encounter any technical problems.

Inside one BookBox you will find:

• 2 copies of a brilliant novel from Barrington Stoke

• Treats to make reading time even more relaxing.

• A bookmark each so readers don't lose their page.

• Some discussion prompts to help a young person and their reading buddy discuss the book when they've finished.

All we want is for young people and an adult they love sharing things with to have a go at the book and have a chat with each other about what they thought. The adult might be a parent / carer, older sibling, grandparent or more.

We've included some questions about the story to get pairs started. Readers can free to use these or come up with their own.

Books available

• The Climbers by Keith Gray

• Swan Song by Gill Lewis

• Stay A Little Longer by Bali Rai*

• The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James

*Note that this title contains references to homophobia and suicide, which some readers may find upsetting.

All titles are published by Barrington Stoke, and we are grateful for their support in making them available for this pilot.

This opportunity is designed to help young people explore types of writing they may not otherwise encounter or have the opportunity to try in school.

We have a small number of fully funded author workshops available for secondary schools at any stage of their Reading Schools journey in Scotland. Authors will be paid a fee of £190 and expenses up to £200 directly by Scottish Book Trust.

What schools receive

• One fully funded author visit

• To hold a workshop

• Exploring a medium such as journaling, song writing, spoken word, fanfiction, comics / graphic novels / manga, writing for RPGs, screenwriting, writing for video games.

• Workshop numbers will be limited to 20–30 pupils (small group or one class), so that the activities can be interactive, and everyone has a chance to participate.