More the Merrier!

St Thomas More Catholic School wins Veolia book competition

A book collection competition run in Haringey schools by Veolia, the Council’s recycling and waste management services provider, has been won by St Thomas More Catholic School in Wood Green.

Participating schools had to collect as many old or unwanted books as possible from pupils and also from within their school libraries. Over 13,000 books were collected by the 16 participating schools, with St Thomas More topping the list with over 2,300 books.  Their prize is a £500 voucher to be spent with competition partner Better World Books, along with five £10 book vouchers to be given to the top five pupils at the school in terms of books donated.
 
Dan Lester, Veolia’s Communications, Education & Outreach Manager in Haringey, said: ““Congratulations to our winning school St Thomas More and we’d like to thank all schools that took part in this competition for collecting such an incredible number of books. With 13 million books in the UK currently sent to landfill, we value our partnership with organisations such as READ International and Better World Books who are working closely with us to help tackle this problem.”
 
Cameron Hawes, Literacy Co-ordinator at St Thomas More School, said: “As a Catholic eco-school, we are delighted to participate in such a charitable and environmental cause and we are extremely proud of all our pupils and staff for their incredible generosity which led to this fantastic achievement.”
 
All books collected were sent to Better World Books who sell the books that are acceptable for sale through their on-line marketplaces. Education charity READ International benefit from the books that the children have collected through a quarterly monetary donation as a result of these sales.  READ International use these funds to build libraries and other educational resources in Tanzania. Any books deemed unacceptable for sale are recycled, ensuring no books are ever sent to landfill.
 
Veolia will be running another schools book competition early in the New Year and will be encouraging even more schools to participate for this worthy cause.
 
Additionally, Haringey residents can donate their books to READ International by depositing them in any of the five book banks placed around the borough at the following locations:
 
·         Town Hall Approach Road, N15
·         Cranley Gardens, N8 – Junction with Park Road N8
·         Colney Hatch Lane, N10 – Junction with Alexandra Park Road
·         Tottenham Lane, N8 – Junction with Rokesley Avenue
·         North Hill, N6 – Outside Hillcrest Estate