There were happy children across Tayside and Fife as we revealed the Pounds for Primaries winners – each receiving a share of £10,000,
Pupils worked together to collect as many of the special tokens that appeared in The Courier and Evening Telegraph as possible, all in the hopes of winning some cash.
Token submissions nearly tripled this year, with 30,539 collected – up from 11,363 in 2023.
Schools benefiting from the initiative have also doubled, with 29 primaries across Courier Country set to receive a share of £9,950.
Scooping the top prize for most collected tokens was Clepington Primary School in Dundee, who received £1,500.
A further prize of £1,000 went to Whitehills Primary School in Forfar.
This was closely followed by Airlie Primary School in Kirriemuir which received £750 and Ancrum Road Primary in Dundee which took £500.
Over in Fife, Tayport Primary School collected the most tokens and was awarded £1,000.
Springfield Primary and Falkland Primary were runners up – claiming £500 each.
Meanwhile Newtyle Primary also took £1,000, while Burrelton and Inchture Primary in Pertshire each were awarded £500.
Both Meigle and Auchterhouse Primary are set to take £250.
Children were delighted with the good news, delivered to them in person by the Evening Telegraph’s associate editor Ross Logan.
He said: “It’s been a real pleasure visiting some of our winning schools to hand over these cheques.
“We know schools can be short of cash to fund new ideas and initiatives, so this money will go a long way to helping them reach some their goals,
“We wouldn’t be able to do this without the continued support of our readers, not only through buying papers but also attending other fundraising events like our annual Christmas Carol concert.
“The fact the number of tokens submitted almost tripled this year shows our Pounds for Primaries scheme is only getting stronger and more popular, and we look forward to handing out even more cash to all our schools in the coming years.”
Every school that collected a minimum of 250 tokens, will receive £100.
This includes: Glendelvine, Hill O Beath, Milnathort, Grange, Barnhill, Monikie, Eastern, St Pius, Glebelands, Longhaugh, Murroes, Rosebank, St Peter & Paul’s RC, Sidlaw View, St Mary’s RC, Invergowrie and Blackness.
This year, Pounds for Primaries was sponsored by Tayside Solicitors Property Centre (TSPC).
Angela Wallace, TSPC Centre and Operations Manager, said: “It has been incredibly rewarding to take part in this initiative and we’re proud to sponsor Pounds for Primaries 2024 – especially in a time when rising costs are felt nationwide, and education faces cutbacks.
“A few of our directors had the pleasure of hand-delivering the cheques, to all the fantastic pupils who collected thousands of tokens for their school.
It was incredible to see in person how much passion the pupils had, with lots of them eager to get stuck in using the winnings to make their school’s goals a reality.”
Pounds for Primaries winners in full:
Clepington Primary – £1,500
Tayport Primary – £1,000
Whitehills Primary – £1,000
Newtyle Primary – £1,000
Airlie Primary – £750
Ancrum Road Primary – £500
Springfield Primary – £500
Falkland Primary – £500
Burrelton Primary – £500
Inchture Primary – £500
Auchterhouse Primary – £250
Meigle Primary – £250
Blackness Primary – £100
Invergowrie Primary – £100
St Mary’s RC Primary – £100
Sidlaw View Primary – £100
Ss Peter And Paul RC Primary – £100
Rosebank Primary – £100
Murroes Primary – £100
Longhaugh Primary – £100
Glebelands Primary – £100
St Pius X Primary – £100
Eastern Primary – £100
Monikie Primary – £100
Barnhill Primary – £100
Grange Primary – £100
Milnathort Primary – £100
Hill of Beath Primary – £100
Glendelvine Primary – £100