The former Turkish Airlines plane being turned into a school library in South Gloucestershire

Part of a plane has been delivered to a primary school in South Gloucestershire which will be turned into a new library.

It arrived at St Helen's CE Primary School in Alveston this morning (6 January) and will be transformed into the reading hub over the next few months.

The project has an estimated cost of around £15,000 and has been named "Flying High" by pupils.

The plane was built just a few miles down the road in Filton in 1993.

For 25 years, it was operated by Turkish Airlines and then Libya Air.

The BAE-146 aircraft was decommissioned in 2017 and a few years later, the school managed to secure part of it for a potential project.

In May 2022, the school secured a grant to build a new outdoor reading area which could be accessed by children and staff.

Now that it has arrived on school grounds, the plane will have to be entirely refurbished. It will need to be insulated, carpeted, heated and have an electrical supply installed.

Pupils Emelia and Seth are very excited for the library to open.

Seth said: "If reading is hard for someone it might make it much more fun to take a book from a big plane."

Emelia added: "I think it's going to get us more involved because it's cool to have a library in a plane!"

Richard Adams, deputy headteacher at St Helen's, said: "We are so excited to have a space that's going to be empowering for the children.

"They're really going to look forward to going there and be taught to read and look for books - and just find out about the world around them.

"It's going to be absolutely incredible. Children are already trying to have a look inside it - they can't wait to get in there!"