£7k lotto boost for more families to read together
Home-start to help bring on speech and love of reading with sharing of resources
HOME-START Staffordshire Moorlands has been awarded funding from the National Lottery’s Community Fund to bring Booktrust resources to families with young children across the Moorlands.
Louise Walker, manager of Homestart Staffordshire Moorlands, said: “We are so happy to have been awarded this grant of £7,045, which will enable us to continue bringing Booktrust resources into the homes of families with young children in the district.
“This grant will enable us to share not only resources, but ideas, fun and laughter to encourage early speech and communication, which is such a building block for young children’s brains.”
New research from the National Literacy Trust has highlighted what many parents will already know - that the pressures on parents during the pandemic affected the time parents could spend with their children.
A quarter said they did not chat with their child every day in 2021, compared with just 10 per cent in 2019, and only half (53 per cent) of parents said they were reading to their child daily compared with two-thirds in 2019.
The Babies in Lockdown report conducted by Home-start UK, Best Beginnings and the Parent-infant Foundation, which captured the lockdown experiences of more than 5,000 parents, also highlighted the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on those who were pregnant, giving birth or were at home with a baby and toddler.
The report said: “For generations, no other group of parents has had to navigate pregnancy, birth and beyond under such extraordinary circumstances.” The report found that 68 per cent of parents felt the changes brought about by Covid-19 were affecting their unborn baby, baby or young child.
A third of respondents believed that their baby’s interaction with them had changed during the lockdown period. “We are committed to addressing these needs” said Louise.
Home-start has successfully delivered Booktrust resources for the past five years, reaching an average of 45 families a year.
“Our aim is to expand on this number over the next year with visits from our Bookstart worker Deb Pepper and our two Bookstart volunteers Lyn Fryer and Sylvia Jones,” Louise added.
The sessions with children and parents are designed to develop and nurture a love of books, rhymes and speech, which in turn will help with early communication and language, socialisation and early learning.
Visits help parents feel more confident and the visits are designed to be a fun experience for both parent and child.
Deb Pepper, who has been responsible for delivering Bookstart visits, said: “Feedback from families have been overwhelmingly positive.
“One parent commented: ‘an absolutely brilliant service and Lyn is so friendly and (my child) interacted well with the activities,’ while another parent said, ‘Thank you so much, I really appreciated this service.’
“We are so delighted we can continue to deliver this much-needed service.”
If you have a child aged between up to five years and are interested in free Bookstart visits, contact the scheme on 01538 387231, email Info@ homestartsm.org.uk or make contact via Home-start’s website - www. homestartsm.org.uk.
If you are interested in supporting local families and would like to volunteer at Home-start as a home visiting volunteer; a group volunteer or a Bookstart/specialist volunteer get in touch as a training course is under way at the moment.
If you would like to fundraise for the scheme or make a donation, please use the scheme website to find out how you can help.