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: Watch as this year’s winners take home big prizes

Have you ever wondered how a crowd of primary school children would react to winning thousands of pounds for their school?

North east school winners are going into the weekend a combined £15,000 richer thanks to the 2023 Evening Express Pounds for Primaries competition.

Many schools won prizes of at least £100, and the three top schools in their respective categories won a combined £4,500.

The Pounds for Primaries competition, sponsored by Bounty Competitions, asked schools to collect and submit tokens that they snipped out of issues of the Evening Express.

Money to support the donations came from the proceeds of the 2022 Evening Express Christmas Concert, the biggest show in the event’s history.

The smaller (0-150 pupils), medium (151-350) and large (350+) schools that collected the most tokens were declared the winners. VIPs from the Evening Express paid each a visit this week to break the news and deliver the big cheques.

And if your guess as to how the pupils reacted includes any combination of screaming, jumping or theatrical gasping then you’re on the right track.

Hip, Hip, Hatton (Cruden)!

The Evening Express’s Neil Mackland presented the cheque to Hatton Cruden pupils along with head teacher Mrs Stacey Beattie. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

It was all smiles at Hatton (Cruden) School on Wednesday afternoon when Neil Mackland arrived to deliver the school’s winnings.

After he announced that the pupils had managed to win £1,000 for their school, he asked if they had any ideas for how to spend it.

As it turns out, they did.

From new toys and laptops to garden improvements, the pupils weren’t short of suggestions. Head teacher Stacey Beattie said it will take some brainstorming to decide on the best use.

Pounds for Primaries winners from Hatton (Cruden) school jump for joy with their £1,000 cheque.
Is anyone at Hatton (Cruden) excited about 1,000? Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

“We’re looking forward to looking through all their ideas and getting some favourites that we can all benefit from.

“We are so thankful to our community for being so supportive and helping us raise so many tokens.

“Some of our parents and families were touching base with their friends and their coworkers and they were all helping us out. It was fantastic!”

Brimmond School bouncing with pride

Pounds for Primaries winners from Brimmond school celebrate with their £2,000 cheque in the hallway.
Amongst the smiling faces, you can see plenty of pensive pupils already considering what to do with Brimmond School’s £2000 cheque from Pounds for Primaries. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

On Thursday morning, it was Brimmond School’s turn to bask in the spotlight.

As the winner of the large school category, Brimmond won £2,000. Head teacher Michelle McKay said that one idea for putting it to use is already gaining traction.

“The students are planning what they want to do with it and the playground was a popular choice.

“We have a very big playground but not much to do in it, so we have been thinking about what we can get to make it better.”

Mrs McKay said that the school had already spoken with the parent council about some financial support to buy new toys and equipment for the playground. Now the Pounds for Primaries cash is going to change everything.

Amya Shonge, Jessica Gordon, Aiden Greig, Max Carle and Archie Scott from Brimmond School in Aberdeen jump for joy after receiving £2,000 from the Evening Express Pounds for Primaries project. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

“It will open up the opportunity for the things that the children really want for this playground. And it will be something that every child, from nursery right up to P7, can enjoy.”

Full circle moment

Mrs McKay said that the school’s success wouldn’t have happened without the help from the Cruden community. Throughout the competition, she said neighbours who didn’t have any family at the school were dropping off tokens.

She also said this week’s win felt like a full-circle moment for the school.

In December, 48 children from Brimmond School performed in the Evening Express Christmas Concert, which generated money for Pounds for Primaries.

Let’s hear it for Fernielea

Fernielea School pupils celebrate as Pounds for Primaries winners.
No one wanted to miss the big moment. Fernielea pupils gathered with Neil Mackland and principal teacher Sarah Leslie for the cheque presentation. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

Winners in the medium school category were Fernielea School, who brought home a prize of £1,500.

Acting principal teacher Sarah Leslie organised the token collection and offered a big thanks to the community for helping pupils raise so much money. Next step: deciding how to spend it.

“Our Community Pupil Voice group will have a large say in what the money will be used for,” she said.

“We would love to use the money in a way that benefits the community such as upgrading our playground.

“We would like to say a huge thank you to the Evening Express and Bounty Competitions for their generosity.”

Pounds for Primaries winners Theo Omoniyi, left, Fiyin Ayansina, Charley Mackie, Kylah Ewan and Ethan Fleming from Fernielea School and their big cheque.
Theo Omoniyi, left, Fiyin Ayansina, Charley Mackie, Kylah Ewan and Ethan Fleming from Fernielea School get their hands on the big cheque. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

More winners in the 2023 Pounds for Primaries competition

In addition to the category winners, every participating school that collected 250 tokens won at least £100 pounds.

Here’s the full list of the 2023 Pounds for Primaries winners and runners-up in each category:

  • Brimmond School (large) – £2,000
  • Loirston Primary School (large) – £1,000
  • Stoneywood School (large) – £1,000
  • Fernielead School (medium) – £1,500
  • Abbotswell School (medium) – £500
  • Glashieburn School (medium) £500
  • Hatton (Cruden) School (small) – £1,000
  • Countesswells School (small) – £350
  • Tarves School (small) – £350

The competition was sponsored by Bounty Competitions, run by Leanne and Calvin Davidson. In just three years in business, Bounty Competitions has donated more than £250,000 to local charities.

Read more from the Schools and Family team

How do I talk to my child about climate change?

Back on track: Riverbank School to open in summer 2024

Children with life-shortening illnesses take to the skies

Conversation