Holy Family Catholic Primary School

Holy Family Primary School is located in the heart of a newly redeveloped area of Kidbrooke, South East London. After suffering a catastrophic loss during Covid, this small primary school in the heart of Kidbrooke Village really needed a lift. With just small reading corners in each classroom, a disused IT suite located in the very centre of the school was crying out to be repurposed as a whole-school library space.

Following a visit from the ABC Book Club team, and numerous meetings with the Senior Leadership Staff at Holy Family, it was agreed that the project qualified for charity funding and was lucky enough to be chosen as ABC's pro-bono project of the year. The pupils of the Junior Leadership Team carefully considered their design and a ‘beach oasis’ theme was born!

Dave Benstead, the school's very talented premises manager, hand-built a wooden raised platform beach hut for the children to climb up to and relax, complete with a seated hideaway reading space underneath! A storytelling chair, cushions for relaxing on, signed author books and twinkling window coverings completed the look to create a sanctuary for the pupils to enjoy.

The library has a relaxing tropical beach and ocean theme with an incredible seascape wall vinyl, transporting the children to a paradise worlds away from Central London.

Blackheath and Lee based estate agents, John Payne, collected over 1,000 pre-loved books for the children to choose from, plus some brand-new inclusive books were purchased with donations made to the charity from our generous sponsors.

Guests to the launch event included local councillor for Greenwich, Dave Sullivan, local author Ramya Julian and several members from The Acorn Group who are ABC's primary financial sponsor. Director at The Acorn Group, Paul Deveney said, 'It's a privilege to support such a deserving school, you can see from the children's faces how much they are going to enjoy this space.'

If you know of a school that needs a new library, why not get in touch? At ABC Book Club, with the support of the local community and generous fundraisers, we are truly able to change the lives of young children.