A YORK primary school has been given a £1,000 boost by a local housebuilder to upgrade its reading books.

St Oswald’s CE Primary School in Fulford received the funding as part of Persimmon Homes Yorkshire’s Community Champions initiative, which seeks to support good causes, charities and organisations from across the region.

The school will use the funds to upgrade its phonics reading library providing more than 170 new books.

Sue Bland, headteacher at St Oswald's, said: “We are thrilled to have received Persimmon Homes’ support. Our active PTA members kindly submitted the application and we are delighted to have been selected.

“We believe it is vitally important to provide our children with a rich and broad range of reading books.

“Our current books are well used, and we wanted to upgrade our phonics library books to ensure we continue to provide our pupils with the best reading education we can.”

Tim Nixon, sales director at Persimmon Homes Yorkshire, added: “We are delighted to support the education of young people at St Oswald's Primary School, reading is such an important and enjoyable life skill.

“As a company we are committed to supporting community groups and organisations that make a real difference to local people – just like this one.

“If people have been unsuccessful in their Community Champions application, we urge them to visit the Persimmon Homes website and try again. Hopefully they will become our next winner.”

Community groups, charities and good causes across the country have benefited thanks to the donations from Persimmon Homes.

Organisations can apply for match funding by completing a simple online form at www.persimmonhomes.com/charity