WANNABE word wizards can spell their way to success, thanks to a donation of new modern dictionaries.

The batch of gleaming dictionaries are being delivered to every Billericay infant and junior school, thanks to the Billericay Mayflower Rotary Club.

The fundraising organisation is giving the reference books to schools as part of its literacy programme, so they can be used by pupils to aid their Key Stage 2 studies.

Members of the club dropped into Buttsbury Junior School, in Norsey View Drive, to hand over 34 of the reference books.

Howard Watson, a member of the club’s vocational committee, which spearheaded the scheme, said: “We are giving the dictionaries to every infant and junior school.

“We’ve bought them with money we have raised through our fundraising events.”

Mr Watson added these are not just dictionaries, but also miniature encyclopedias.

He said: “They are modern and are also illustrated.

“For example, they show, through drawings, how helicopters work and how a space shuttle operates and things like that.

“Obviously, it’s easy for children to just type on a keyboard and look up the spelling of a word on a computer, but it’s also important for them to be able to use a dictionary.

“We just thought this was something nice to do for schools and we will be giving out more dictionaries to other schools in the next few weeks.”

Each school is getting around 30 of the reference books.

Vaughan Collier, headteacher of Buttsbury Junior School, said: “We are very grateful to the Billericay Mayflower Rotary Club for this superb donation.”