In February, students from Saltus Junior School successfully raised nearly $27,000 after taking part in a "read-a-thon'' for a Reading Month Awareness project.

Project coordinator, Kay Latter said: "While parents and friends support the monetary aspect of the read-a-thon, by making financial pledges, the real value of the programme is that it stresses the pleasure of reading to students.'' The students read daily and they all received prizes. Rulers, pencil sets, and beverages donated by John Barritt and Sons were just some of the gifts children received.

Christine DeSilva, head of the junior school said: "The wonderful thing is that the students were very excited about choosing their books and enjoyed what they were reading.

"The fact that the students managed to raise such an impressive amount of money in the process is, in my opinion, secondary to the incredible amount of reading they undertook,'' she added.

The class in each year level that read the most pages won a non-uniform grub day.