ExemplaRS Special Edition: Rural

Welcome to a Special Edition of our new ExemplaRS series, which celebrates some of the great work being carried out in Reading Schools across the country. Special Editions focus on a particular theme and we hope to provide schools with ideas and inspiration, and to showcase the range of experiences a key area can cover.

This page covers the work of primary schools in more rural locations across Scotland.

Halkirk Primary – 1.3.2 School environment

Small schools sometimes have less flexible indoor space but fabulous outdoors, so we see some lovely examples of outdoor reading areas. This one is at Halkirk Primary in Highland.

Firth Primary – 1.5.1 Access to high-quality books

Without walkable access to a local library or bookshop, Firth Primary in Orkney makes good use of the library van service, BookyMcBookFace. We also love Renfrewshire’s Skoobmobile.

Glenelg Primary – 2.3.3 Creating learner social networks

In a small school like Glenelg Primary in Highland, they find it easy to find informal opportunities to chat about what they are reading and ‘buddy up’ to read together with different ages.

Kirkfieldbank, Braehead and Carmichael Primary Schools – 2.3.3 Creating learner social networks

The tiny, rural Kirkfieldbank, Braehead and Carmichael Primary Schools in South Lanarkshire formed a Rural Schools Book Club, meeting regularly online to share story recommendations and related play activities. They even created a 'Little Authors Live' event where they read stories aloud. They used Google Classroom to share photos and reviews.

Libberton & Wiston Primaries – 2.5.1. Raising the profile of reading with families

Without a public library nearby, Libberton and Wiston Primaries in South Lanarkshire have each set up a lending library for the community in their foyer. The books rotate every few months.

Langbank Primary – 2.7.1 Partnerships within local community

Langbank Primary is a small, rural community in Renfrewshire with no local nurseries or care homes to establish links with. However, by obtaining a grant, the school partnered with Right2Dance and Pace to create a dance project, performed for the community. The project was based on stories about the village, gathered from families and neighbours, reading books and researching online.