BookTrust Cymru Early Years Practitioner Conferences 2019: Every child reading for pleasure

BookTrust Cymru’s annual conferences have become a staple of the early years calendar in Wales.

The conferences focus on giving practitioners the chance to hear great speakers, attend inspiring workshops and share practical ideas for using books, stories and rhymes with children and families.

Throughout the day, we addressed the following key questions:

• What are the benefits of reading for pleasure?
• How do we support every child in Wales (0-5) to experience these benefits?
• How do we reach every child – and who might be missing out?
• What practice can we apply to really help children and families to experience these benefits?

Our keynote speaker was Dr Deborah Robinson, Assistant Professor from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham. Deborah is an expert in SEND and a passionate advocate of reading for pleasure for children with additional learning needs. In her keynote address and workshop, she explored the benefits of reading for pleasure, and practice that can engage children with a range of needs.

The conference included a combination of speakers, longer workshops and shorter information and practice-sharing sessions. Throughout the day, we connected the ideas in the sessions to the four current Bookstart titles available to families in Wales: Anifeiliaid by Debbie Powel, Bouncing Babies by Helen Oxenbury, Sanau Cadno by Julia Donaldson and So Cosy by Lerryn Korda.

All delegates recieved ten copies of each of these titles to use with children and families as part of their Bookstart Superboxes – 40 books in total!

See our Superbox page for more information on these resources and how to use them. You can also download extra copies of the Superbox handbook and activities here.   

If you’d like to find out about future conferences, sign up to BookTrust Cymru’s Early Years Newsletter and follow us on Twitter.

If you have any questions about the conferences, please email booktrustcymru@booktrust.org.uk or call 02922 676775.