A VILLAGE school has won a special new trophy for hitting the books this summer.

More children at All Saints Primary, in Great Oakley, took part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge than any of the eight others in the area.

As a reward, Harwich Mayor and Mayoress John and Carol Brown and Kay Kington, senior customer services assistant of Harwich Library, presented a trophy to children during assembly.

Jean Wier, deputy headteacher, said: “The children were really excited and pleased to receive the trophy this morning.

“We encourage them to take part in the challenge and they are always really pleased when they come back and show us they completed it.”

The trophy, new for this year, was sponsored by Harwich Town Council and will take pride of place at the school before being returned to Harwich Library for the Summer Reading Challenge next year.

Essex County councillor Susan Barker, councillor responsible for libraries, said: “We’re committed to giving children the best start in life and the Summer Reading Challenge does exactly that by improving literacy when reading levels traditionally drop during the holidays.”

The challenge, which ran from July to September, was called Animal Agents and saw children tasked with reading six books over the summer holiday.

Children aged three and over had a folder and collected stickers for each book read – once completed they got a gold coloured medal and a certificate.

Babies had their own folders and older children took part in an ImagiNation challenge, reviewing books they had read.