STOCKTON Heath primary school aims to raise the importance of reading with a new state-of-the-art library.

The primary school in West Avenue officially open its school library last Friday, October 12, which is now home to thousands of books to encourage pupils to read.

Head teacher Dan Harding said: "The enhancement and enrichment of all aspects of reading throughout the school was a key focus and development area last academic year which has directly led to a very positive impact on pupils’ reading standards.

"Our school library design and build and the stocking of it with books was one aspect of this development planning; it was entirely funded by our amazing PTA who raised more than £12,000 to complete the project in two phases: the non-fiction area and fiction area."

The PTA at the primary school also raised additional funds for a software programme which catalogues books with barcodes so they can be scanned for withdrawal and return.

The school have also appointed six year six pupils as librarians.

Dan added: "The 3,000 book stock capacity is in addition to existing class libraries and, following its official opening, we will be encouraging individuals and classes to visit the library and withdraw books on a regular basis as we continue to promote a natural love of reading and books.

"The school library is a fantastic child-friendly resource and a unique selling point of our school which clearly demonstrates our ongoing commitment to raising the profile and importance of reading."