The Rotary Club of Dartmouth has been busy distributing Dictionaries 4 Life to year 6 primary school leavers locally. Dictionaries 4 Life is a Rotary literacy project in which the Dartmouth Rotary Club has participated for the past three years with increasing interest from local schools.

The book is a firm cover, highly illustrated dictionary aimed at students aged 9-12 years. The club approached local schools who have primary classes and offer the dictionaries free to present at the final assembly of their year 6 students as they are about to leave for secondary education.

The presentation this year was made by President Mike Freeman and Secretary Martin Lowe. Although the book format is less popular generally nowadays these books provide the student with a memento of their primary years and are much appreciated by students and schools.

This year the club presented a total of 90 dictionaries. The local schools involved were Kingswear, Dartmouth Academy, St. John the Baptist, Stoke Fleming and Blackawton. President Mike Freeman said, “By encouraging the intelligent and self-guided use of dictionaries, learners become more independent, and for teachers this is one of the core goals.”