Joining a story time isn’t easy when you’re anxious about how your child might feel. To prevent families from missing out, Bath & North East Somerset Council has collaborated with BookTrust to develop a library event tailored for children with additional needs
Sam Meunier, Development and Outreach Officer, Digital & Customer Experience at Bath & Northeast Somerset Council
“As both a parent of a child with additional needs and a library staff member, I feel strongly about promoting inclusivity,” says Sam Meunier, Development and Outreach Officer, Digital & Customer Experience at Bath & Northeast Somerset Council.
“I used to be nervous about taking my child to the library, because I worried about noise. I understand how daunting a ‘quiet’ space can feel when you’re trying to manage behaviour.”
Harnessing Sam’s experience, Bath & North East Somerset Council have invested in supporting SEND families to feel more comfortable and encouraged to spend time in their local library.
Support for SEND families at Keynsham Library (credit: Anna Barclay, Bath and North East Somerset Council)
As well as gifting BookTrust’s additional needs book packs to families across the borough, Bath Central Library repurposed one of its meeting rooms to create the area’s first ever sensory space in 2022, with further spaces created in Keynsham and Midsomer Norton in the following years. The library team also developed Sensory Explorer Bags to be used in the library with ear defenders, a visual guide, BookTrust information and books, and tactile items.
“At our libraries, we work hard to challenge misconceptions,” says Sam. “We welcome families, and we genuinely don’t mind noise. And our sensory spaces and resources can make a real difference to families, if they know they’re there.
“However, even with these resources, we’ve struggled to run successful events for SEND families, which is why partnering with BookTrust has been so valuable. It helped us rethink our approach.”
Delivering a story time at Bath Opportunity Preschool (credit: Bath and North East Somerset Council)
Building local specialist connections through BookTrust
Sam collaborated with BookTrust to evolve the library team’s events offering for SEND families. The aim was to successfully develop and promote a Relaxed Storytime tailored to the specific needs of children with additional needs.
As well as offering BookTrust’s guidance and research-based expertise, BookTrust’s Partnerships team connected Sam and her library colleagues with a local specialist pre-school for children Under 5 with additional needs, and co-ordinated a visit to meet with families and the setting’s professionals to gather their input and advice, with the aim of building up a long-term partnership.
“We visited Bath Opportunity Preschool to deliver a story time session, gifting families BookTrust additional needs packs and tactile books,” says Sam. “Through this, we built a new relationship with the pre-school, and they will now become a BookTrust gifting partner of ours.
“The pre-school advised us on promoting our Relaxed Storytime. They helped us refine it as a session specifically for children with autism or sensory processing needs. Previously, we would have maybe just said: ‘SEND families’, so quite broad.
“We realised we needed to really hone in on what we wanted to provide, which was a quiet story time away from the main library floor and using our sensory space, where we could control the lighting, the sound, the environment.”
Sensory room at Bath Central library set up for Relaxed Storytime (credit: Bath and North East Somerset Council)
Hosting the first ever Relaxed Storytime in a library sensory space
In January 2026, the first Relaxed Storytime was hosted at Bath Central Library for families with children on the autism spectrum and other sensory needs, supported by BookTrust resources.
The event was ticketed for just five families, and featured stories from Bookstart Star book pack and an Old MacDonald-themed story sack, which had props linked to the books that helped bring the story to life.
As well as a smaller group size, the Relaxed Storytime was designed to be different from a regular library story time. “Instead of reading one or two stories and singing songs at the end, we were led by the child and their interests,” says Sam.
“We have a big storytelling chair that we usually use for storytime, but during Relaxed Storytime, we were on the floor at the child’s eye level, letting the session run as it needed, moment to moment.
She adds: “During the session, I focused on observing and learning from the family’s needs while my colleague Cara, who has Early Years experience, led the storytelling.
“We switched between a story, exploring the sensory space and discussing the benefits of reading, and modelling how to use the story sack, the animals and the BookTrust finger puppet.
“The family hadn’t used the sensory space before, so we discussed the benefits of booking it and how there aren’t many spaces in Bath where you can do that.”
Bookstart Star books and resources incorporated into the Relaxed Storytime at Bath Central Library (credit: Bath and North East Somerset Council)
The future of Relaxed Storytimes at Bath and North East Somerset Libraries
“The format worked well, and we now plan to run Relaxed Storytime sessions monthly,” says Sam. “We’ll look carefully at how we promote the events. We’ll ticket them in a more flexible format, and read stories as and when it feels appropriate.
“This removes the barrier of timekeeping and offers families the option to leave and rejoin the session. That’s not something that I’d considered before the pilot event.”
What else has Sam and the Bath & North East Somerset library team learnt about adapting library events for SEND families?
“Developing our local connections has been invaluable,” says Sam. “If you have those specialist connections, you can ask questions you might find difficult to ask a family and have confidence that what you’re doing is credible. You can test ideas without feeling that you might offend or do something misplaced.”
She adds: “To work with BookTrust and access all the learning and expertise based on evidence and research, it gave us confidence in what we were trying to do.
“Using BookTrust resources and books, we could confidently advocate great stories for children with additional needs. We’re grateful to BookTrust for gifting resources to the whole pre-school setting and providing a supply of book packs for gifting to children at future Relaxed Storytime sessions. That’s a lovely legacy and a hook to make sure BookTrust resources stay part of this programme going forwards.
“Having dialogue between BookTrust, the library staff and families, we’ve gathered different perspectives, and pushed our thinking on. And we’ll keep learning from the families who come to the sessions.”
