Press release: Erskine classroom assistant wins Learning Professional Award

A classroom assistant from St Anne’s Primary, Erskine, has won Scottish Book Trust’s Learning Professional Award 2024 for her phenomenal championing of reading in her school.

Lorraine McAdam has not only transformed the reading culture at St Anne's but has become a beloved figure in both the school and the local community for her dedication and compassionate support of every child to find pleasure in reading.

The Learning Professional Award, run by the national charity changing lives through reading and writing, is sponsored by Browns Books. It recognises the inspiring teacher or librarian who has made a powerful impact on the reading culture of young people and adults in their community.

Lorraine has been instrumental in St Anne’s Primary achieving the Silver Reading Schools accreditation and she has introduced new libraries within the school that every pupil and their parents can access. She has also brought great confidence to the pupils in her classroom as she encourages them to share their love of reading with one another.

As part of her award, Lorraine will receive £500 worth of books from Browns Books to help continue her outstanding work.

Lorraine McAdam said:

“I’m honoured to receive the Learning Professional Award from the Scottish Book Trust as I know there are so many worthy winners all over Scotland. This was a lovely surprise for me and a double celebration as I celebrated 25 years at St Anne’s this year.

“I’m so proud of our school and I enjoy seeing our pupils reading in our child-led libraries, which we created together. This gives the pupils a voice in what they would like to read and what kind of reading environments they would like to read in. Observing the pupils increase their vocabulary, general knowledge and strengthen their writing is so rewarding for me. I’m looking forward to the next chapter in our book to see what we do next.”

Fiona Stevenson, the class teacher at St Anne's Primary who nominated Lorraine, said:

“I nominated Lorraine for the Learning Professional Award as she puts her heart and soul into everything she does and her passion, drive and enthusiasm grows each year.

“Lorraine is extremely proud of our school and always tries to ensure that its love of reading shines through. She is a valued member of our Reading Steering Group and she has organised various successful reading initiatives. Lorraine creates wonderful child-led reading areas, she works closely with Erskine Library and she has created a relaxing library within our school for members of our community.

“Our pupils have become a lot more engaged with their reading due to her ideas to encourage and promote reading. Her knowledge, creativity and enthusiasm has helped to inspire pupils who thought reading was not for them. Every pupil in our school has benefited from Lorraine's care, passion and dedication. She brings a smile to all our faces and we are extremely lucky to have Lorraine in our school.”

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said:

“Warmest congratulations to Lorraine, a deserving winner of this year’s Learning Professional award for her inspiring commitment to the pupils at St Anne’s as she encourages each one of them to find pleasure in reading.

“Not only has she encouraged every pupil to explore their imaginations through books, while also building their confidence, but has introduced new libraries spaces and was instrumental in the school achieving its silver Reading School accreditation. It’s clear that with her warmth and dedication, she is a real asset not just to the school, but within the whole community. Our thanks to Browns Books for making this important award possible.”

Claire Smith, Sales Director for Browns Books, said:

“Many congratulations to Lorraine on being the well-deserved winner of this year’s Scottish Book Trust Learning Professional award. It is always so heart-warming to hear stories of how people are going above and beyond to help children, their parents, and members of the local community fall in love with reading.

“Our relationship with reading should be a lifelong connection that grows and evolves over time, and we’re never too young or old to get lost in a good book. We look forward to helping choose some amazing new books for St Anne’s Primary School. Well done, Lorraine!”

Notes to editors

Please direct all media requests to Caroline Young, Marketing and PR Manager at Scottish Book Trust at [email protected](this link will open in a new window).

Scottish Book Trust

Scottish Book Trust is a national charity that believes everyone living in Scotland should have equal access to books. Our work provides opportunities to improve life chances through books and the fundamental skills of reading and writing. Access to books and a love of books bring many important benefits from family bonding and advancing children’s learning, to unlocking creativity, helping employability and improving mental health and wellbeing. Scottish Book Trust aims to support all communities across Scotland, with particular focus on those who are vulnerable and under-represented.

Our programmes and outreach work include:

• Gifting books to every child in Scotland to ensure families of all backgrounds can share the joy of books at home, through Bookbug and Read, Write, Count
• Working with teachers to inspire children to develop a love of reading, creating innovative classroom activities, book awards and author events such as Authors Live with the BBC and our Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour
• Supporting and nurturing Scotland's wide-ranging literary talent, both emerging and established through our training, awards and writing opportunities including New Writers Awards
• Creating events to share books and connect writers with communities, including Book Week Scotland
• Providing support to people living with dementia and their carers through Reading is Caring

In addition to the funding we receive from the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland, we need the constant support of trusts and foundations, corporate sponsors and individual donors.

Follow @scottishbktrust on X(this link will open in a new window), @scottishbooktrust on Instagram(this link will open in a new window) or like Scottish Book Trust's Facebook page(this link will open in a new window).

Browns Books

Browns Books(this link will open in a new window), sponsor of the Scottish Book Trust Learning Professional Award, supplies books, eBooks and DVDs for schools, colleges and businesses.