Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Pounds for Primaries: This year’s winners announced

Pupils from Kingswells Primary School with their cheque for £2,500.
Pupils from Kingswells Primary School with their cheque for £2,500.

Due to the pandemic and the cancellation of last year’s Evening Express Christmas Concert, it’s been two years since the Evening Express’ Pounds for Primaries competition last gave away money to primary schools across the north-east.

This year, Kingswells Primary School, Quarryhill Primary School and Charleston School are the Pounds for Primaries competition winners for 2021.

Thousands of readers once again collected tokens inside the Evening Express throughout November.

Charleston School was one of the three winners in this year’s competition. Pictured at the front are Evening Express editor Craig Walker and Ludi Metelski of Aberdeen Sports Village. In the background, pupils celebrate with head teacher Anna Cartlidge.

Local communities came together for the competition as token collection boxes filled to the brim and others posted direct to schools.

Cheques were presented to each of the winning schools earlier this week with smiles all round from delighted staff and pupils.

However, it’s not just the three winners that will be receiving a festive boost from Pounds for Primaries.

Every school that collected more than 250 tokens will also receive a £100 cash prize, giving thousands more local primary pupils an extra little treat this Christmas.

Kingswells Primary School

Kingswells Primary School in Aberdeen topped the largest tiered school category, winning a £2,500 cash prize.

Head teacher, Moira MacIver, says she didn’t expect for the school to collect as many tokens as it did.

“We’re delighted to have received the £2,500 prize money,” she says.

“We’re grateful to everyone in the community, especially the PTAs who were brilliant at using social media to encourage the community to collect tokens.

“We were completely overwhelmed by the support this year.”

Like many other schools in the north-east, Moira adds that they’ve struggled to raise funding due to the challenges of the pandemic.

The competition prize money is a welcome boost to Kingswells and they aim to put it towards improving pupils’ outdoor learning.

“We’ll spend the money on open-ended construction kits and outdoor learning resources as we want the kids to build on learning through play,” says Moira.

“Our staff and pupils will really enjoy the resources the prize money will bring.”

Kingswells Primary School. Pictured are: Ludi Metelski, head teacher of Kingswells Primary Mrs Moira Maciver and Craig Walker with P5 pupils.

Quarryhill Primary School

Quarryhill Primary School in Aberdeen scooped the £1,500 cash prize for collecting the most tokens in the second-tier category.

Sharron Macdonald, deputy head teacher at Quarryhill, says she was surprised to receive the lucky phone call.

“We’re all so chuffed,” says Sharron.

“It was a lovely, surprising phone call we received. We’re absolutely delighted to have won.”

Staff, families and friends all pitched in to collect tokens for Quarryhill and Sharron says it has been a “great community effort” that’s allowed the school to win.

“We weren’t expecting this at all,” says Sharron.

“We’ve not decided what to use the prize money for yet as we were so shocked to win!

“It’s a great boost for the school going into Christmas.”

Quarryhill Primary School pupils with their £1,500 cheque.

Charleston School

Taking the £1,000 cash prize and topping the third-tier category was Charleston School in Aberdeen.

Head teacher, Anna Cartlidge, says she was amazed to see tokens being collected from parents and families in their piles.

“There was massive support around the school and the wider community,” says Anna.

“We’re delighted to have won – it’s very unexpected!”

Like Kingswells Primary, Anna is keen to utilise the competition prize money to transform Charleston School’s playground space which will enhance pupils’ learning.

“The prize money will absolutely make a big impact to the school,” says Anna.

“We want to create a space that’s engaging, nurturing and interesting for the children.

“This is going to give us a big boost.”

Delighted Charleston School pupils with their £1,000 cheque.

Pounds for Primaries is run in conjunction with the Evening Express Christmas Concert. Tickets for this year’s concert on December 12 cost £13.50 plus booking fees. To buy tickets, visit www.pandjlive.com