THE power of the printed word has had students flocking to the school library in a project designed to inspire them to read.

Around 150 Year Seven youngsters at Richmond School and Sixth Form College were offered a free reading book under the Book Buzz initiative.

And for student Cristina Veidos, originally from Romania, the scheme has been proving to be the ideal way to improve both her reading and spoken English.

“Reading also helps me with speaking as English is not my first language,” said the 13-year-old, who lives in Richmond.

“The book fair is a great idea.”

The school’s librarian, Amanda Farquhar, described the Book Buzz scheme as a “great success” and said lunchtimes had seen the library packed with excited young readers.

“Reading is a basic building block of education,” she said.

“We have a raft of programmes at school, including the on-line Accelerated Reader, Reading Matters mentoring and Book Buzz schemes for our students.”

She added: “Young people have to negotiate so many distractions, such as digital devices and computer games, so if we can engage them in a love of reading at a young age it really helps their learning.”

Year Seven students at the school have also buddied up with sixth formers in a mentoring initiative that uses peer power to lift reading standards.