Pupils of Dringhouses Primary School were able to load up on new library books as the VW camper van parked at four drop-off points in the community.

Leading the drive to reunite pupils with some new books was school headteacher Ben Sutton, who hit the road in the Reading Bus with colleagues Claire Scott-South, deputy headteacher, and Mary-Kate Swiers, assistant headteacher.

Mr Sutton said: "We’re currently in the situation where the majority of our children are learning from home, accessing our ‘remote learning’ from their living rooms, ably supported by their grown-ups.

"It’s a different world of education and one that we’re all getting used to. Obviously, this means that the ease of access to school resources is limited, and as reading is one of the most important things that children can be doing wherever they are, we wanted to be able to make sure that while they can’t get to the school library, we can bring the school library to them."

The Reading Bus called at four locations - College Court, White House Grove, Middlethorpe Grove, and Leven Road - each for 30 minutes, over the course of the morning.

Pupils can choose new books from the mobile library

Mr Sutton said pupils and parents arrived and queued in a socially-distanced fashion waiting to change their books.

He added: "We’d even set up a DringBus playlist on Spotify to soundtrack our journey, which parents contributed song suggestions to via our Facebook page; this week, Whitesnake accompanied the turning of pages, next week we have suspicions that REO Speedwagon - or should that be REO ‘Read’Wagon - might be blasting out!"

The plan is to make it a regular trip around the local area, to make sure that while children are working from home, they are still given the opportunities to read new books, and to collect extra stationery and resources that might have run out over the past few weeks.

Mr Sutton said: "As Dringhouses School, we’d like to say a huge thank you to all of the parents and carers who are working so hard at home with their children. It’s not an easy time for anyone, but we really feel like we’re all doing our best to keep the community safe."

Pupils arrive at the Reading Bus mobile library in Dringhouses, York

The teacher said the trip was a highlight of the week for the staff and families.

"We’ve had amazing feedback about how useful it was, and how much the children enjoyed seeing their friends and teachers, and how important that connection - albeit safely arranged, risk-assessed and organised- is across the community."

Here are some comments from parents about the new initiative:

"Think Immy really liked to see Mrs SS and Miss Swiers too, just to physically see teachers gave her a real boost. Such a great initiative, loved it!"

"Thank you so much!! Elliott was so excited to not only see faces of teachers, but also see a couple of classmates! Excited to have some new books, especially a train themed one!"

What are you doing in your school? We'd love to hear from teachers and pupils. And if you are schooling at home - send us photos and stories of what you are up. Below are some examples of what some York children have been doing - we'd love to see what more of you are up to! You can send your stories and photos to us via the SEND NOW button at the very end of these images...

From Stephanie Akers

Tell us what you have been up to homeschooling during lockdown.York mum Stephanie Akers from Derwenthorpe said: "At mummy school I have been following the lesson plans by Hugo's teacher. "I invested in a white board and I try to stick to a routine. So far so good, also using lots of bribery with chocolate and sweets! "I think it massively helps if you have a supportive school and teachers which we do."

Send us photos with captions and full names of everyone in the photo.

Hugo and his phonics

From Gemma Matthews

Tell us what you have been up to homeschooling during lockdown.Gemma Matthews said: "We have been home schooling via online lessons with our son's primary school. "We are both key workers but able to work from home so we are fortunate in that respect. "We both work full time so the online delivery from the school has been invaluable."

Send us photos with captions and full names of everyone in the photo.

Jack Matthews with his globe creation for geography

Jack Matthews taking part in an online lesson with his teacher