Young bookworms welcomed an award-winning author to their school to cut the ribbon on a new ‘reading retreat’ area.

Stoneydown Park Primary School in Pretoria Avenue, Walthamstow, hosted Ruth Brocklehurst on Thursday, November 15, to open the part-funded site.

Like many other primary schools in Waltham Forest, Stoneydown Park has expanded in recent years to cope with the increasing numbers of children in the borough.

Sadly, with space at a premium, the school no longer had room for a library.

But when a gloomy outdoor space was identified as somewhere which could be repurposed, parents stepped in to fundraise for the new project, named the Reading Retreat.

Year 3 pupil Theo said: "The new Reading Retreat is awesome.

“There are so many good books in there - I don't know where to start.

“I love reading so it will be nice to be able to spend time reading at break-time if I don't feel like running around."

The Reading Retreat is an outdoor shelter protected from the weather which will be used by pupils at break times and also for classes.

The shelter was designed by Blackhorse Workshop resident architect Zoe Berman and built by a team from Blackhorse Studios.

Kylie McKnight, English leader at the school, said: “The Reading Retreat will help to boost literacy and give kids with special education needs somewhere to chill out when the playground feels overwhelming.”

Mother-of-two Kirsty O’Brien led the charge by successfully bidding for a £9,000 grant from the National Lottery Awards For All scheme, a £4,000 grant from Jewson for materials and £6,000 for books from the Foyle Foundation. The The rest of the funding was raised through bake sales, discos and a summer fete organised by the parent-teacher association.

Ms Brocklehurst spoke to the youngsters about her job as a writer and editor of history books for children and why she loves reading and writing so much.

She was joined in the Reading Retreat by the newly-elected reading ambassadors – children from Years 5 and 6 who will help to look after the library.