School youngsters receive free dictionaries to boost their education

For the start of the school year, primary children are getting a free ‘Dictionary 4 Life’.All 950 youngsters in the 33 primary schools in the Lynn area are being given dictionaries to be used in lessons and at home.The three Rotary Clubs in the town have combined to provide the useful equipment.

John Thorpe, Trinity Rotary president, said: “We have been doing this for some years now and feedback from schools is that they help to improve literacy, which is important in young children to enable them to progress in their education.“Although they actually belong to the children and have their names inside, they are used in the classroom by teachers to help with the national curriculum.”Danial Ryan, assistant head teacher at West Lynn Primary School, said: “Thank you again for the dictionaries. They have really taken pride in them and were very excited to receive them.

“They will be invaluable in helping develop their writing this year and it is a huge step in them improving their own spelling independently. “Many of the children have commented on how useful they have already found them and I have really noticed how careful they have been with the books in ensuring they are well looked after.”Rachael Waterson, of Holycross Church of England Primary School, said: “Thank you for giving the children in Year 4 dictionaries again. Our children will use them frequently. “We learn how to use them in school during our whole class reading sessions where we explore the vocabulary in our text each week.“The children are very excited to receive their dictionaries and choose to read them in their personal reading time. A real asset to their education.”The illustrated dictionaries are bought in bulk nationally, so they are much cheaper than retail. The schools contribute £1 per book and Rotary clubs cover the rest. They are specially designed for young children to use and the rotary clubs said it is very pleasing to hear the teachers’ comments on how they find them useful.The dictionaries comprise 1,000 illustrations, 10,000 entries, and 20,000 definitions printed in full colour on 288 pages.Bob Foster, from Lynn Rotary Club, said: ”By using the dictionary children explore spellings, meanings, derivations, alphabetical order, and abbreviations, and they help them to understand them.“It develops independence and confidence in the children which is an important part of education and can help with their homework.”