On Thursday 8th October 10:15–11:30am, Councillor Tony Concepcion the Lord Mayor of Liverpool will be giving out Story Time Boxes at a special event at the Walker Art Gallery to celebrate the culmination of The Reader’s project with 36 nurseries across the city – assisted by The Reader’s loveable Story Time Penguin.
The nine-month nurseries project, commissioned by Liverpool Children’s and Young People’s Services and Liverpool Learning Partnership, was delivered by The Reader, as part of the City of Readers campaign, in early years settings that offer free childcare provision to families of two-year-old children. Project workers delivered a programme of weekly shared reading sessions to encourage parents and their children to enjoy books and reading for pleasure, in a fun, relaxed and friendly environment.
Outcomes of the nurseries project include:
• Over 500 children and 100 carers were reached through the project, and over 50 nursery practitioners were provided with training
• 96% of participating parents surveyed from January to May 2015 agree that they are now more confident in reading aloud to their children
• 96% of participating parents surveyed from January to May 2015 agreed that they know more about the value of reading regularly with their children.
The celebration event will be attended by nursery staff, local parents and young children, whom the Lord Mayor will be presenting with Story Time Boxes filled with books, blankets, penguin puppets and more, encouraging everyone to find fun and accessible routes to reading. Nurseries project coordinator Neil Mahoney explains how the end of the project is in fact the beginning of a new chapter:
“We’re delighted that not only is the Lord Mayor helping us celebrate the success of the nurseries project, but that the event will launch our distribution of 300 Story Time Boxes in the coming weeks to participating nurseries across the city – boxes containing more than 2,000 books in total! We hope through this legacy that Story Times will continue to encourage reading for pleasure among young children and help give them the best start in life.”