NURSERY pupils have been rewarded for turning over a new leaf and getting stuck into books.

Boys and girls at Gibshill Children's Centre in Greenock were paid a special visit by reading champion Bookbug and presented with goody bags for their involvement in a range of novel initiatives.

There is a big focus on reading at the Smillie Street nursery, including the introduction of a bookbank.

Craig Scott, Gibshill's depute head of centre, said: "We were very lucky to welcome Bookbug, who was happy to hand out the bags to the children.

"We also gave every child the opportunity to take a book home from our bookbank, which allowed us to recycle nearly one hundred books from our library.

"Through this we are promoting early reading skills and encouraging our children and families to enjoy playing with and exploring books at nursery and at home."

Craig says the initiative is proving popular and also allows the nursery to be more environmentally-friendly by saving books from the bin.

He said: "We were delighted to be able to provide theses resources to our children and their families.

"The children were all happy to take a book home and read these with their siblings, parents and carers.

"This also enabled us to recycle and re-use a number of books which normally would be thrown out."

The goody bags include picture and activity books, postcards, pencils and other items to help the children with reading and writing.