BOOKS will fill the shelves of a new library after a school won funding for some more cutting edge technology.

Lexden Primary School is replacing its ICT suite with laptops after winning a £10,000 grant from the National Lottery.

The school is to match fund that money and it soon expects to receive a similar grant from another application to complete the £30,000 project.

It will allow it to start work after Easter on a new library, which is due to be open for September.

Headteacher Alex Candler said he was “absolutely thrilled” to receive the grant.

He said: “Our plan is we are going to get rid of the ICT suite and replace the desktops with laptops.

“Computing will be taught in individual classrooms.

“The technology the children were using was becoming oldfashioned.

If we are to prepare the children for the world of tomorrow, we need them to use upto- date-technology.

“If we want the children to develop a real love for reading, we want to fill a room with books they want to read.

“The plan is we will move our current library from the corridor and create a destination children can go to rather than pass through.”

Pupils at Lexden Primary School and youngsters from its nursery school will all be able to use the new library. Mr Candler added: “If the children at nursery already have that love for reading, we are hitting the ground running. Technology is a massive part of modern life, but reading on a computer or a tablet can’t replace the joy you get from having a book in your hands.”