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Early Years friendly Nottingham Central Library

Nottingham’s new central library opened in November 2023. The redevelopment of the site enabled an immersive early years space to be created, alongside a craft/activity room, exhibition space and engaging children’s library.

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Introduction

The children’s library staff deliver a programme of activities that encourage early book sharing and interactions, supporting young children’s early language development and love of books. Nottingham City has high levels of child poverty and data shows that many are struggling with basic skills when they start school. The children’s library provides a safe place for young children to learn and develop.

The challenge

Nottingham’s ambition is to be recognized as a Child Friendly City by UNICEF. The local themes, selected following consultation with children and young people in the city are:

  • education and learning
  • safe and secure
  • healthy
  • equal and included.

Nottingham City has 17,800 children aged 0-4 years and a growing diverse community. The 2021 Census shows 42.7 per cent of the population as being from BME groups; an increase from 35 per cent in 2011.

In the 2023 Early Years Foundation Stage profiles Nottingham 63.3 per cent of Nottingham children achieved a good level of development compared to the national average of 67.2.

Data for communication language and literacy for Nottingham was 64.1 per cent compared to the national average of 68.8 percent. With Nottingham boys achieving 57 percent compare to the national figure of 62 per cent.

The family hubs and Small Steps Big Changes are providing support for children in speech, language and communication, however not all families access these provisions. The library provides a safe space for universal support to families,language development and school readiness skills.

The solution

The new children’s library is fully accessible for families, with ramped access , buggy park and changing facilities all close at hand. The environment is welcoming and spacious and yet has cosy areas with cushions and changeable lighting for sharing books.

A range of sessions are delivered within the library space to support children’s early learning and development and to encourage reading for pleasure as they move into primary school.

The weekly ‘Totstimes’ is for babies and toddlers and is a lively interactive half hour session run by the library staff. Sessions include stories, singing, instruments and puppets. These sessions are informal and no booking is required. With a number of children and families with hearing impairments accessing the sessions, the library have now introduced a British Sign Language signer to support the session on a monthly basis.

Messy Play is delivered in partnership with the local college. Their students studying for childhood studies qualifications support the delivery of the sessions. Babies and young children are able to engage in a number of ‘messy’ activities.

Craft sessions are held on a regular basis in the activity room. The crafts are often seasonal, such as making spooky masks for Halloween or decorations for Christmas. Again this is a walk-in session with no booking required.

Storytime sessions are also held on a weekly basis. An opportunity to dive into the magic of books and watch as stories come to life, speaking creativity and enhancing literacy skills.

Lego sessions are held at weekends and families with children from all ages are welcome to attend to learn and play together. Children can work on their own projects or join with others on group builds.

A weekly board games club is held where a range of board games for two to 12-year-olds are put out. Several of the board games are aimed at early years children and put on rugs on the floor to make them accessible. Tents are also used to create a fun playtime environment. Children can play jigsaw and puzzle matching games. Children often play with other children in the library, creating social opportunities for them and their parents/guardians.

Parents are also signposted to useful online resources for example the BBC’s Tiny Happy People, BookTrust Hometime and Words for Life from the National Literacy Trust.

A section of the library has been designated for parenting books.

The staff recognise that being a parent or carer can be hard and challenging as a child grows. The parenting collection includes a range of titles to encourage, inspire and inform parents of all ages. To remind them they are not alone and that they can talk with other parents about difficult experiences.

The immersive room is a large interactive space suitable for very young children upwards. Images are projected onto three interactive walls. There are a number of themes, for example under the sea, where a if a child touches the wall bubbles might appear or a fish swim away. The night sky where if the wall is touched lots of stars appear. This room is often used for story telling sessions and primary school visits.

 

The impact

The new library has not been opened a full year, however the number of young children and families engaging with library services has significantly increased and sessions are well attended.

It is too early to see if the delivery of sessions has impacted on the early years foundation stage profile scores as this will take a few years.

Lessons learned

Nottingham launched part of their children’s offer when they opened. Messy Play and Totstime sessions started weekly from the point of opening. Other sessions, such as Storytime and Board Games Club were implemented over time. The Totstime and Messy Play sessions are consistently well attended, both at weekends and holidays. Board Games and Storytime sessions are also well attended, but receive fewer visitors than Messy Play and Totstime. 

Going forwards, it will be good to seek feedback from customers to understand what they may want from their children’s library. 

Analysis of footfall data may help to identify patterns which allow Nottingham to improve or adjust their current offer. 

In particular, it will be good to identify ways of boosting afterschool activities, as most of the events take place in the morning. It will also be good to consult with wider services in the city to understand how the offer fits in with what else is available to families in the city.

Contact

Hannah Clover, Senior Library Customer Advisor 

Email: [email protected]