School of Education

Children from the University of Glasgow Nursery joined staff and students from the School of Education for an event marking Dr Elizabeth Nelson’s appointment as a Scottish Book Trust Reading Champion 2026 and celebrating the joy of reading.

For the past four years Dr Nelson has run the Reading With Children project alongside Dr Nicole Smith, Prof Jane Stanley, and Dr Soumi Dey, which sees UofG staff, students and alumni join pupils from the University Nursery for regular afternoons of reading in libraries and museums.

The weekly sessions have seen more than 80 students and around 40 children under 5 take part in intergenerational learning.

In recognition of her work Dr Nelson was selected as one of four winners of the national reading charity's award, which recognise the reading role models whose work inspires others to read for pleasure.

Dr Nelson said:

“[The award] is a recognition of the amount of reading mediation that we have done across the last four years... and it's about sustaining and encouraging - not just children reading - but encouraging the nursery to really take on board that ownership of how they are a reading nursery, and to encourage stories and storytelling.”

University of Glasgow Nursery manager Caroline McVeigh said the sessions helped pupils to develop literacy skills and a love of reading.

“On behalf of the University Nursery we'd really like to thank Libby and Nicole. We've had this project running for about four and a half years now [and it] has been so beneficial. The literacy skills have really been developing, the interest in reading has really been developing, and we've also seen children going off to school whose teachers have reported that their success has been really good.”

Miranda Huezo is one of the postgraduate students involved in the programme. She said she found reading to the children to be incredibly rewarding.

Miranda said:

“It's a great way to socialise with my classmates but also to get real, tangible experience of reading with children. You're in this programme about children and reading so it makes a lot of sense to actually read with the kids, and it's a great way to end the week of study and work.”

The Scottish Book Trust Reading Champions award, sponsored by Browns Books for Students, celebrate learning professionals across Scotland who champion reading. The winners each receive a prize of £250 worth of books from Browns Books, as well as the chance to showcase their work.

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First published: 7 April 2026