Our Patron, Her Majesty The Queen, opened Christ Church CE Primary School's brand new library today – the first to open in the National Year of Reading 2026 as part of the Libraries for Primaries campaign co-founded by the National Literacy Trust and Penguin Books.
The new library at the school in Camden, London, enabled through funding from Bloomberg as part of its Coronation Libraries Project, has been transformed by teachers and Bloomberg volunteers into a vibrant, welcoming space for the school’s 230 pupils and hosts 500 brand new books, comics and audiobooks connected to pupils’ backgrounds, experiences and interests.
The library features titles from award-winning authors and illustrators Tọlá Okogwu, Chris Smith, Ramzee and Sophy Henn who joined Her Majesty today and delivered a series of exciting activities to spark pupils’ love of reading by encouraging them – in the spirit of the National Year of Reading – to ‘Go All In’ on their interests and passions – from music and sport to dancing and video games – through reading in whatever way works for them.
The National Year of Reading initiative seeks to address the steep decline in the nation’s reading engagement, with our research showing that children and young people’s enjoyment of reading in their free time (32.7%) and daily reading habits (18.7%) are at a 20-year low.
"The National Year of Reading gives us a unique opportunity to amplify the activities, campaigns and partnerships that we know are crucial to transforming the nation’s relationship with reading – and school libraries are vital to this."
Jonathan Douglas CBE, our Chief Executive
The impact of Libraries for Primaries
Offering hope, our new evaluation report published today indicates that Libraries for Primaries could play a vital role in addressing this challenge by boosting children’s long-term reading enjoyment and daily reading habits, improving struggling readers’ skills and supporting whole-school reading cultures. Our evaluation shows that one year on from participating in the programme:
- 2 in 3 children enjoyed reading more (66.3%) and read more often (66.3%);
- 4 in 5 (81.3%) children were more confident in their reading ability; and
- Almost half (44%) of children who were most in need of support made meaningful improvements in standardised reading tests, progressing to a higher level of attainment.
Libraries for Primaries brings together charities, publishers and businesses to ensure every UK primary school has the training, resources and book stock needed to embed libraries at the heart of their school reading culture.
The campaign focuses its work in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities where 1 in 4 primary schools does not have a library and 1 in 6 (15.7%) children and young people say they don’t have a single book of their own at home.
The importance of primary school libraries for children’s educational, social and emotional development has further been underscored by the government’s recent commitment to fund a library in every state primary school in England by the end of this Parliament.
Celebrating the opening at Christ Church CE Primary School
Today’s event, which took place during National Storytelling Week, celebrated the power of primary school libraries and stories to inspire, engage and connect pupils. During the event:
- Her Majesty joined award-winning children’s author Tọlá Okogwu for an exciting session on the power of stories and libraries to help inspire 30 pupil librarians from surrounding schools to become reading changemakers.
- Her Majesty then took part in a special storytelling assembly with the school’s key stage 2 pupils and award-winning children’s author Chris Smith, creating an adventure-filled, imaginative and hilarious story.
- Prior to Her Majesty’s arrival, pupils had enjoyed a comic illustration inspired session with comic author, storyteller and National Year of Reading ambassador Ramzee.
- After visiting the school’s early years classrooms, Her Majesty was gifted a special book of key stage 1 pupils’ drawings of their favourite things to read about, created with, and presented by, award-winning picture book author and illustrator Sophy Henn.
- Her Majesty, accompanied by pupil librarians, authors and Libraries for Primaries partners, then continued to officially open the school’s new library, unveiling a commemorative plaque.
“For many of our children this will be a ‘go to’ spot in our school. When we talk about reading with the children we use the quote ‘reading is like dreaming with your eyes open’ and how reading can transport us into the deepest parts of our imagination."
Lee Duffy, Executive Headteacher at Christ Church CE Primary School
Our partnership with Bloomberg
Christ Church CE Primary School’s new library was enabled through funding from Bloomberg as part of its Coronation Libraries Project, which celebrates the important role The Queen has played in encouraging children to embrace reading.
By the end of the academic year, Bloomberg will have reinvigorated the libraries of 45 primary schools in London communities where low literacy and poverty are seriously impacting people’s lives and where children are least likely to have access to books at home or at school.
Through the Project, two teachers from Christ Church CE Primary School will receive training and resources focused on strategies for developing a reading for pleasure culture in the school, creating an engaging library space and developing a pupil librarian scheme so pupils can play an active role in shaping their library and encouraging fellow pupils to read.
"Through the Bloomberg Coronation Libraries Project, we have seen how welcoming reading spaces and access to books can support pupils’ reading ability and wider learning within their schools. We are delighted to be building on that work as part of this national campaign."
Jemma Read CBE, Global Head of Corporate Philanthropy at Bloomberg