Taylor Swift celebrated her 20th birthday on Sunday (13Dec09) by giving back to schools and making a $250,000 donation to the country's education system.

The country sensation threw a big party for her friends and tour crewmembers at her family home in Hendersonville, Tennessee at the weekend to mark her big day and the end of a hugely successful year, which has been topped off with a clutch of Grammy Award nominations.

But instead of unwrapping her birthday presents, Swift had a generous gift of her own to give - a six-figure cheque to help buy books, fund educational programmes and pay teachers' salaries at schools the singer has been involved in.

She says, "Something I wanted to do at the end of this amazing year and especially on my birthday was give back to something I really believe in, which is education.

"The schools that I went to and the amazing people I got to learn from really turned me into who I am, and I wanted to give back."