BookTrust’s role in multi-agency early years provision in Birmingham
Published on: 01 August 2024
Here, we share how BookTrust programmes help local authorities provide a joined-up, community-centred strategy to achieve their objectives in early years provision for families.
Over the past two years, BookTrust has collaborated with councils to pursue a range of different pathways for integrating its shared reading support across 124 Family Hubs in England.
In Birmingham, the existing multi-agency approach connects early years teams, children's centres and Family Hubs, libraries and health visitors – all of which use BookTrust programmes in their work.
For example, Rookery Children's Centre, part of Birmingham's Family Hubs and children's centre network, incorporates various BookTrust programmes into the face-to-face support it offers for families.
Its team of early years practitioners have been using the BookTrust Storytime programme over the course of six weeks during their Stay and Play sessions. At the end of the six weeks, they deliver Bookstart Toddler, which includes books and resources for families to take home with them.
"These sessions are all about parents coming in and understanding how they can support their children with their speech," says Marie Holmes, Language Through Play Worker for Spurgeons, who leads sessions for families at Rookery Children's Centre.
"A lot of our work is supported by BookTrust. As well as singing and rhymes, stories are a big way of promoting speech and communication. BookTrust has really helped us with that.
"We've been using BookTrust Storytime and, because we work with a lot of 1-2 year olds, we've been using the Bookstart Toddler packs with families. They absolutely love it, it's so perfect for our groups.
"We do a speech and language screening for each child within the first session. With that screening, parents get resource sheets to take home and work through. We incorporate the BookTrust Toddler books into these resources to show parents how they can share these books with their child."
Lisa Eldret, BookTrust Senior Partnership Manager, Central England, says: "Rookery Children's Centre is part of the Birmingham Family Hubs and children's centre network, with which we work really closely.
"BookTrust programmes are embedded in the multi-agency early years provision across Birmingham. Whether it be in group sessions or one to one, practitioners within these settings are using and incorporating BookTrust programmes into every single piece of work they do with families."
Why more investment in shared reading during the early years is vital for children
Topics: Early Years, Features, Testimonials
