Many of us dream of seeing our names in print. What greater thrill than thumbing through an anthology and seeing your name on the page of a professionally bound book?

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Of course, for most of us it never happens.

But for a group of youngsters in Bramley, that dream is about to become a reality thanks to a learning project designed to instil a love of literature in children as young as five.

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At Bramley Primary, pupils and their teachers have spent the past year gradually putting together a large collection of poems as part of a special literature project.

The scheme was kick-started with a visit from a professional poet, during which the youngsters were encouraged to stretch their own imaginations.

They then used everyday experiences around home and school to put together a portfolio that will be used to create individual books of poetry.

"It's been a huge job putting it together but it should be brilliant at the end," said Bramley teacher Claire Barton.

"The poetry project ties in with lots of other things we are doing in school.

"For example, we had a Mardi Gras celebration, and that gave the children inspiration for some poems.

"For some of the poems, the children were asked to write about a particular theme, but for others, it was their choice.

"It's been fantastic and the children have been really keen.

"You can tell by the way they have decorated and illustrated their poems that they have taken great pride in their work."

Poems penned by the youngsters ranged from My Skydiving Hamster, and Love, to Pebble The Rabbit and Another Day At School.

As part of the scheme, the school formed its own project committee, in which pupils were given different job titles, with youngsters responsible for areas including finance, publicity, design, pricing and buying.

Among them is Matthew Feeley, 11, whose responsibilities include being head of sales.

"We're going to make some posters to advertise the books to let everyone know when they are ready," he said.

"The plan is to have books showing poems from each year, and also a big book with the best poems from all the different years.

"We hope parents and grandparents will buy them, but also businesses and other people.

"It's for a really good cause because all the money we make will go to school funds and we might give some to charity."

As part of the project, supported by Education Leeds, which runs the local education authority, each committee member had their own business card printed following a tour around Bramley-based Resource Print Solutions (RPS).

Miss Barton said: "The tour around RPS gave each of the children an understanding of the processes involved in printing your own publications, from the design and layout to production of the finished article.

"Our intention now is to carry the project on.

"The year 6 children will work with the year 5 pupils so that they can
take over their roles after they have left us and gone on to high school.

"We can't wait for the books to be printed and that will give the children an even greater boost."